The rich always lose more money in a recession than everyone else, even as a proportion of how much richer they are; that is, they lose a greater percentage of all their wealth in a recession than you and I do. They also gain more than you and I do in a recovery. Having a more volatile net worth is part of being rich.

It’s why we should all be less impressed with statements like “the GDP grew 10% last year” or “the economy shrank 1% this year”. These statistics probably don’t affect you, since the growth won’t do much for your salary, and the contraction won’t shrink it. What may happen is that the rich lose their taste for employing people, and you end up with no job at all.

Which is why trickle down is no substitute for progressive taxation, because the employing class don’t honor the implied contract by guaranteeing to always trickle their wealth down to you in exchange for work. They reduce their employment of others whenever they feel like it.