[refurb]

What do they do with it then? The only way they could hold money and it not have a positive impact is if it's sitting in cash.

If they invest it or hell, even put it in a savings account, the money is having a positive impact on the economy. If they buy a ridiculous $50M yacht? That money flows to the company that built it.

[onion2k]

That's true, but it'd be true if all that money were divided between 1000 people's bank accounts or if 50 people bought $1m yachts too. And that way there'd be more people enjoying the wealth rather than just one. Some people think that's better.

[skybrian]

That's not necessarily so. If you invest in real estate (and many do), wealth and income can grow even without any physical improvements, just due to supply and demand. National income will grow (since it includes rent) but it doesn't create any new jobs.

Here's an analysis showing that capital is earning more than labor mostly due to housing prices:

http://www.brookings.edu/about/projects/bpea/papers/2015/lan...

[vixen99]

All of which may have something to do with rock solid fact that global capitalism is lifting people out of poverty at the fastest rate in human history.