First of all, you won't just need a well-educated top 1% (I presume you mean top 1% in terms of innovation ability, not income). You also generally need a skilled workforce in order to implement what you've invented.
Second, it is arguable that the rising inequality in the US is incompatible with long-term economic growth. The economic growth in past decades has been powered not just by innovation: A lot has been due to families going from single to dual income households, working two jobs, and more recently, Americans using their homes as ATM machines.
America, at least for now, has a consumption-driven economy and for that you need consumers to be able to buy things. In order for that, they need sufficient income, and for that income, they have to be able to compete on the labor market. 99% of the labor force doing minimum wage jobs cannot drive an economy.
Worse, increasing technological innovation has eliminated low skill, minimum wage job, and driven a lot of them overseas. Technological innovation needs to be paired with skilled labor if you don't want to face a collapsing labor market down the road.
First of all, you won't just need a well-educated top 1% (I presume you mean top 1% in terms of innovation ability, not income). You also generally need a skilled workforce in order to implement what you've invented.
Second, it is arguable that the rising inequality in the US is incompatible with long-term economic growth. The economic growth in past decades has been powered not just by innovation: A lot has been due to families going from single to dual income households, working two jobs, and more recently, Americans using their homes as ATM machines.
America, at least for now, has a consumption-driven economy and for that you need consumers to be able to buy things. In order for that, they need sufficient income, and for that income, they have to be able to compete on the labor market. 99% of the labor force doing minimum wage jobs cannot drive an economy.
Worse, increasing technological innovation has eliminated low skill, minimum wage job, and driven a lot of them overseas. Technological innovation needs to be paired with skilled labor if you don't want to face a collapsing labor market down the road.