Reddit mentions of The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government

put the whole pyramid on a platform that sinks into a vat of champagne.

In "The Gardens of Democracy" the authors argue that job creation and true wealth are a "middle out" proposition. According to their stats, adjusted for inflation each middle class household is now earning $12,000 less per year than they did 30 years ago. The authors posit "can you imagine how the economy would be today with each middle class household having $12,000 more each year?


http://www.amazon.com/Gardens-Democracy-American-Citizenship-Government/dp/1570618232/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b



But back to the illustration and your comment - I don't think anyone truly is concerned about how rich the rich are, nor even the ratio of the spread. If the "bottom" where floated to a higher level or "rising tide floats all boats" then nobody would care how many millionaires or billionaires were having their yachts floated too.

> Unless you have something valuable to contribute

I think many people would argue that democracy and capital markets generally benefit from greater participation by diverse agents (people). Indeed, it is often argued that the economic successes in the United States were fueled in part by immigrant influx. So, if these people are able and willing to even minimally participate, there's a case to be made that it would be economically and perhaps politically beneficial.

Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer talk about this in their fantastic book, Gardens of Democracy.