"Clearly investment, or "trickling down" (as its critics like to call it) isn't just effective, it is the only thing that works to make people's lives better."

"Clearly investment, or "trickling down" (as its critics like to call it) isn't just effective, it is the only thing that works to make people's lives better." I'm not sure if you're being hyperbolic or not but innovation is often cited as the thing that improves people's lives. You might say that innovation requires investment but there have been many examples of poor people, without outside investment, innovating to make people's lives better.