The right-wing economic institution Standard & Poors says in a new investigation report that the growing gap between what the top one percent earns and what the common man earns threatens economic growth and thus the ability of the rich to stay rich or get richer.
Economic growth is sustained by a maintained or increasing rate of consumption. When the gaps become too large, two harmful effects for the economy occur:
- the richest don't need more and save everything they earn
- the large majority of low-income earners do not make the economy go together and save on the little they consumed
Result: A declining rate of economic growth, recurring recessions and declining incomes for the wealthy few at the top.