Quote from shortie:
but the general trend of the past ~40 years is clear: money flows from the poor to the rich."
the bottom 50% pay almost no taxes. The top 50% pay almost all the taxes (growing rapidly as income rises). So the govt services, roads, justice systems, debt payments, defense, medicaid, education for the poor, food stamps for the poor, section 8 housing for the poor, welfare for the poor, energy subsidies and a lot of other services all come from the richer.
In addition, most of the jobs that the poor have are likely also from the rich - who start, grow, take risks or fund most of the companies as well as the buildings in which they exist. That also includes the military/govt jobs that the rich also provide by supporting the govt
The top also disproportionately purchases more of the luxury and retail purchases that employs an awful lot of the poor.
If the rich left the country suddenly, the poor would be in a living hell.
If everything was redistributed, the poor would be poor again within 10-20 years.
Your generalization is entirely backwards and entirely wrong.