If you look at societies that expropriated the wealth of the rich and tried to live off it and weren’t productive (e.g., Russia after the revolutions of 1917), you will see that it didn’t take them long to become poor. The less productive a society, the less wealthy and hence the less powerful. By the way, spending money on investment and infrastructure rather than on consumption tends to lead to greater productivity, so investment is a good leading indicator of prosperity.
