Under AOC/Bernie-style American socialism, would rich people still be rich?

[John Dule]

Wealthy people drive innovation. When cellular phones were first being developed, they were sold for thousands of dollars because wealthy people bought them as a status symbol. The R&D departments at these companies only managed to create smaller, more efficient devices because they had that initial influx of revenue from expensive sales to the "1%." If it weren't for that segment of the population that had the resources to purchase those devices, they never would've been sold.

Under socialism, there will be no rich people because everyone will be consigned to brutal, crushing, inescapable poverty. Because of this, there will be no innovation either. The only advancements you see under socialism are in the realm of military technology (socialists, despite all else you might say about them, are great at killing people).