"The root of our economic problems is the ever widening income gap. The rich, who are laying claim to a higher and higher percentage of income, don’t spend as m

"The root of our economic problems is the ever widening income gap. The rich, who are laying claim to a higher and higher percentage of income, don’t spend as much of their income as do those down the income ladder, so demand for goods and services is dropping" Actually, a case could be made that a rich man not spending his money is actually beneficial to society. It is like society owing the rich person services, but the rich man never claims them. That implies that before the rich man gave some things to society for free (in exchange for the money). An example might be China exporting lots of stuff to the USA in exchange for "worthless" slips of paper (a ka dollars). Of course the whole story might be more complicated than that - but it is also very likely more complicated than "our problem is that the rich don't spend more". Reference: http://www.slate.com/id/2110817/ http://www.slate.com/id/2110817/ (Defense of Uncle Scrooge)