The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover 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 fellows hands
Depressing how long it's been clear trickle-down economics has been known to be bullshit yet Republicans keep pushing it, and there's little coherent message about how much bullshit it is.
There are studies that show that you get almost 2 dollars of economic activity for every 1 dollar of food stamps. Because the family that gets $200 that month spends all that $200 on food, and then they spend the $200 they were originally going to spend on food on either more/better food, or maybe new shoes & a jacket for their kid. They don't just sock it away in stonks.