this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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[–] EhForumUser@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That was just a line to keep the proles subservient and waiting.

Huh? The trickle down line comes from comedian Will Rogers who was making a joke about how President Hoover, who was an engineer, was accustomed to water trickling down, but that he didn't realize money trickles up.

It was a line to serve the exact opposite – to tell the 'proles' that the economic plan was fundamentally flawed.

[–] teuast@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

yeah, but it was repurposed for that. "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" also has its origins in a saying referring to something that is impossible, but was later repurposed into having the opposite connotation for most people.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 13 points 1 year ago

Also when conservatives quote MLK about 'judging people by the content of their character', and nothing else.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago

Thanks. I learned something. I grew up hearing it discussed seriously in the 1980s, by which time I'm not sure everyone remembered the critical origin you identify. As I remember it, during the Reagan/Thatcher years many people treated the matter of whether and how the wealth would trickle down as a real live question.