Actually the Foreign Affairs article makes it pretty much as simple as that. We were going pretty good in the 1960s and the moneyed plutocracy, angry that they were losing power, financed and fomented a conservative counterrevolution to undermine all the progress that had been made. They got obscenely wealthy, while we got the shaft. Pretty cut and dry.
Re:Why the (US) Rich Are Getting Richer
by CWuestefeld on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @04:48PM
(#2093692)
I agree that's what the FA article says. Anybody who really thinks that's the start and finish of the topic is standing there with their fingers in their ears singing "la-la-la I can't hear you".
The real world is a complex place. It's rarely possible to point to a single cause of anything.
There's some truth in the idea that the rich get richer, faster than the rest of us. But today, in a practical sense, what does it mean for someone to have much more money than I do?
And what causes it? It's certainly not that some plutocracy is holding our heads below water, as much some people like to paint that picture.
I'd encourage you to read this article, which has a pretty insightful analysis of where this inequality originates, and why: http://www.the-american-interest.com/article-bd.cfm?piece=90...