Not saying it's a bad thing, only that it's a thing, and the availability of these types of funds to the rich and lack of availability to the average investor is one of the reasons for inequality, as the original poster was saying.

Becoming 'increasingly divorced' from economic reality doesn't mean that it's completely separate, only that even in times of low growth, the ultra rich have high yield funds available to them which exacerbates economic inequality. It's just a trend. Or as Piketty states, r > g. Hedge funds used to be entirely defensive against market downturns, today they're increasingly run by speculative traders, many of whom offer outsized returns.