As long as most gains and profits go to a small percentage of people ("the top x%"), no sort of retraction/austerity measure will provide long term large scale

As long as most gains and profits go to a small percentage of people ("the top x%"), no sort of retraction/austerity measure will provide long term large scale benefit. It will only exacerbate the situation. The first problem is measurement. Most current economic measurement methodologies don't consider history well enough - particularly where public funds have been used for infrastructure benefits. Using the US as an example, the modern status quo of life is built upon the interstate highway system. That's just one (very big) example of how public works/infrastructure has benefited the entire society - especially the business owners who can be more efficient due to well-oiled transportation systems. Perhaps some other rail-based system would be even more effective, but that's beside the point. But as humans are wont to forget the past, many people have forgotten that it took bold investment at a time when money was scarce to provide a foundation for the next 40+ years. So the fairly recent proclamations of small business owners that they built their own fortunes conveniently forgets that the entire population's investment some decades ago primed the situation that they find themselves in now. Austerity says the reverse: we will not spend anything on anyone out of public funds (unless some powerful group deems it necessary... such as where military is concerned). But what it fails to recognize is that the more people you have dying around you, the lower your health becomes. Ignoring ethical discussions, there are practical boundaries to questions of "how much is enough" for people on the upper end and "what is the minimum to live a better-than-horrible life" on the bottom end. I do not enjoy paying practically double the tax rate in Netherlands as I did in the US, but I find daily life SO much better (and safer) here. Being a king of a ghetto is no life. I'd rather the people cooking my food and washing my dishes at the restaurant not be hating my existence because they're so miserable. In fact, I'd rather them feel essentially equal so that when I compliment them on the food or service they feel pleased to have a conversation with me. That is living.