The 'trickle down theory' is dead wrong
By Alanna Petroff @AlannaPetroff Replay America: Land of shrinking opportunity Wealth does not trickle down from the rich to the poor. Period. That's not Senator Elizabeth Warren talking. That's the latest conclusion of new research from the International Monetary Fund. In fact, researchers found that when the top earners in society make more money, it actually slows down economic growth. On the other hand, when poorer people earn more, society as a whole benefits. The researchers calculated that when the richest 20% of society increase their income by one percentage point, the annual rate of growth shrinks by nearly 0.1% within five years. This shows that "the benefits do not trickle down," the researchers wrote in their report, which analyzed over 150 countries. By contrast, when the lowest 20% of earners see their income grow by one percentage point, the rate of growth increases...