It might not be so bad if there were even a grain of truth to trickle-down economics – the quaint notion that everyone benefits from enriching those at the top. But most Americans today are worse off – with lower real (inflation-adjusted) incomes – than they were in 1997, a decade and a half ago.
如果滴漏经济学（trickle-down economics，一种所有人都能从顶层人士的发迹中获益的奇谈怪论）中含有那么一丝真理的话，这或许称不上大坏事。但如今大部分美国人的境况比15年前的1997年还不如——真实（经通胀调整的）收入下降了。增长所带来的好处全被顶层攫走了。