Things don't return a lot over zero in the long run. Maybe 5-7% in the absolute best case for long term returns. Enough that even a million dollars generates maybe less than $40k of reliable income.
Most people need to expend so much of their income just to live that this mostly doesn't affect the average person.
But yes, the rich get richer. They don't always buy things proportionally more, some of it just sits there.
I never know if "the rich get richer" means the people on the tail of the distribution now will be farther out in the future, or if it means the people on the tail of the distribution in the future will be farther out than the people on the tail now.
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/economics/
Things don't return a lot over zero in the long run. Maybe 5-7% in the absolute best case for long term returns. Enough that even a million dollars generates maybe less than $40k of reliable income.
Most people need to expend so much of their income just to live that this mostly doesn't affect the average person.
But yes, the rich get richer. They don't always buy things proportionally more, some of it just sits there.