The top can only consume so much. I'm talking about actual consumption, not income and investments. Unless you believe that the entire country could consume a lavish lifestyle sustainably, I'm not sure what your point is.
And it's funny you use the word "hoard", talk about hyperbole.
Families at or below the 50th percentile of earning don't live lavish lifestyles, at all. That was only ~$33K of taxable income in 2008, the top end of the lower 50%. Families below that earned considerably less.
Earning 40% more would be a nice boost to their purchasing power.
You don't like the word "hoard"? What else would you call this-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312104575298652567988246.html
The ongoing market downturn, due to unemployment & weak demand, just makes investors crave liquidity even more, driving the 10 year rate of return on down-graded US Treasuries to a mere 2.4%.
We're entering a debt/deflation spiral, a situation where those who have, hold, and seek to hold even more. Expect unemployment to get worse, not better. Expect classic hoarding of liquidity. Expect your cash to be more valuable next year than it is today. Expect things to get worse, ala 1930.
Business can't, won't escape this on their own, other than very slowly. In the history of modern finance capitalism, they never have.
Don't believe me? Believe the markets, and believe this-
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/its-a-growth-scare/