A number of economic studies have suggested that in order to get out of the present recession we need to reverse this trend.14 Their argument is that growth is more likely to be driven by an increase in the spending power of those with wages below the stratospheric, and that this over-accumulation of wealth by the top 1 per cent may actually have sparked the present recession. Ultimately, the very free market policies implemented to improve economic performance may well have led to the sort of economic shock that we are still trying to pull ourselves out of!
