Definitely loved the coalescation of state and corporate power as the rich get richer and the poor get robbed. As champagne elites of political and business backgrounds launder freely in the light of day to trickle down piss down the mouth of working man. A beautiful time indeed. Oh. Where was I?
Actually the inequity was always there, it sort of did not get "bigger" except in first world countries. The inequity has been growing since the first world countries "Globalized" their blue collar work to other counties. The more the globalization happened the greater the wealth inequity in the first world countries spread.
For instance manufacturing in the US is/was the biggest staple for middle class income.
"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the manufacturing industry lost 7.5 million jobs since its peak in 1969, with the most significant drop between 2000 and 2017. Therefore, while the U.S. population grew 9.7 percent between 2000 and 2010, there were much fewer manufacturing jobs for the workers to fill."
Where do you think all of those jobs went? Some you can point to technology upgrades but the majority went overseas.
During the late 80's and early 90's computers up until the crash. The Internet became a great source of Middle class income within the US. But the competition is fierce for jobs with H1B visas availability and technology that allows companies to out source employment to cheaper areas of the world. So those countries base incomes rise and the US's stagnates or declines.