> Even if you believe that a high gini coefficient is needed to encourage upward mobility, a falling living standard for the poor indicate that it is not working.
Yeah, social mobility in the US is pretty low nowadays. I don't have any numbers at hand, but wasn't there a recent story on HN about how most European countries had more social mobility than the US now?
Trickle down doesn't work. Money flows up. The poor spend it immediately (because they need it to pay for stuff they need but can't buy, which is what makes them poor), whereas the rich can afford to hoard it.
Yeah, social mobility in the US is pretty low nowadays. I don't have any numbers at hand, but wasn't there a recent story on HN about how most European countries had more social mobility than the US now?
Trickle down doesn't work. Money flows up. The poor spend it immediately (because they need it to pay for stuff they need but can't buy, which is what makes them poor), whereas the rich can afford to hoard it.