👋 Hi, I'm Nicholas Roberts. I create and perform music and write this daily blog about creativity, culture, and my life.

I live in Los Angeles with my wife and golden retriever.

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The original name for trickle down economics was “horse and sparrow economics.” This is an old idea from the 1890s.

The name comes from the idea of giving more oats to horses than they can eat.

After the horses are done with their breakfast, the leftover oats will be there for smaller birds, like sparrows, to eat.

It was thought that if rich people had more money (like the horses with too many oats), they would spend or invest it in ways that would eventually benefit everyone else, like the sparrows getting the leftover food.

It was tried in practice in the 1920s by president Warren Harding. He lowered taxes for rich people, hoping it would benefit everyone.

Instead, the rich got richer, and the average worker didn't see much improvement.

This period of time was known as the "Roaring 20s," as stock market profits went through the roof. However, a huge economic crash followed in 1929, leading to the Great Depression.

The same kind of idea was brought back in the 1980s by President Ronald Reagan, called "Supply Side Economics" or "trickle-down" economics.

The theory was that if rich people and businesses had lower taxes, they would create more jobs and redistribute the wealth. That would "trickle down" to everyone else.

But, as luck would have it, it didn’t work.

A study by the London School of Economics looked at tax cuts for the rich over the last 50 years in 18 countries.

The only thing the tax cuts could guarantee was that the rich get richer. The cuts didn't improve the economy or job market.

By now, most of us know that trickle-down economics doesn't work as promised.

Or maybe we’ve just been all drinking too much oat milk.