WIST Quotations

Maher, Bill -- Real Time with Bill Maher (12 Mar 2011)

Dave — Wed, 25 May 2016 17:23:09 +0000

We have this fantasy that our interests and the interests of the super-rich are the same, like somehow the rich will eventually get so full that they’ll explode, and the candy will rain down on the rest of us, like there’s some sort of piñata of benevolence. But here’s the thing about a piñata: it doesn’t open on its own. You have to beat it with a stick.

William "Bill" Maher (b. 1956) American comedian, political commentator, critic, television host.
Real Time with Bill Maher (12 Mar 2011)

Francis I (Pope) -- In “Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist,” TIME (15 Dec 2013)

Dave — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:48:31 +0000

The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger: nothing ever comes out for the poor.

Francis I (1936-2025) Argentinian Catholic Pope (2013–2025) [b. Jorge Mario Bergoglio]
In “Pope Francis: I’m Not a Marxist,” TIME (15 Dec 2013)
(Source)

On the "trickle-down" theory.

Rogers, Will -- Column (1932-11-25), “Weekly Article: And Here’s How It All Happened” [No. 518]

Dave — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:00:45 +0000

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickled down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the dryest little spot. But he didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1932-11-25), “Weekly Article: And Here’s How It All Happened” [No. 518]
(Source)

An abbreviated form, used in memes, omits sentences 2-4, but is often presented in text as the full quotation.

Galbraith, John Kenneth -- “Recession Economics,” New York Review of Books (1982-02-04)

Dave — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:59:51 +0000

Mr. David Stockman has said that supply-side economics was merely a cover for the trickle-down approach to economic policy — what an older and less elegant generation called the horse-and-sparrow theory: If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) Canadian-American economist, diplomat, author
“Recession Economics,” New York Review of Books (1982-02-04)
(Source)