I agree that a literal rising tide does lift all the boats at port but that trite little saying is used to justify trickle-down economics and neoliberalism at every turn
Literally it isn’t and you, and maybe the handful of liars using it for that purpose, just flat-out do not understand the saying.
A rising tide lifting all boats is specifically about how helping the bottom helps everyone. It is so astronomically far from the concept of trickle-down economics.
This is kinda a weird argument we're having but I've literally heard this argument "from the pulpit" in multiple college econ classes, perhaps your experience is different.
I think if we were assessing whether this analogy is fit for purpose then you would have to say that it only makes sense if all the 'boats' are always at the same level which is the case for real boats on a real tide
Libertarians don't, and it's one of the few things Neoliberals are actually right about.
"A rising tide lifts all boats" refers to the fact that giving money to the people on the bottom of the financial pyramid who needs it the most will benefit everybody. Unlike just shoveling it at the already rich, which is what capitalism is designed for.
Infuriatingly, almost none of the Dem leadership actually follow through on this mantra with actual policy, beholden to the rich capitalists as they are.
I heard that recently and thought to myself 'yea I don't have a fucking boat' and realized that is the true meaning of this phrase. People who own boats already are gonna do great. People who don't will drown.
My coworkers do. Somehow the reason things suck is because of immigrants. Despite being immigrants. It's the lazy people who don't work as hard as them. Mathematically removed if you look at how things work. Not to mention that all these systems are artificial ... why shouldn't we build a system that benefits everyone instead of the few?