Ok, let's deal with the root cause of why income inequality soared from 1995-2015:<p>The Federal Reserve debased the dollar, paying for wars, terrible government spending choices and entitlements that are ballooning. They also spurred numerous asset bubbles through bad policy choices. It's entirely understood that the Fed can cause asset bubbles by holding interest rates too low for too long. They've been aggressively using that understanding for the last six years.<p>The rich can deal with the dollar losing half of its value in a decade. Nobody else can. The rich have capital, and make a lot of money on the Fed's intentional asset bubbles in real estate and stocks. The S&P 500 - and the wealthy who own most of it - benefits massively from a debased dollar, as their exports boom - while most of America suffers from a vast loss of purchasing power.<p>The end of the strong dollar of the 1990s, is what began the era of dramatically increased inequality. It's not a coincidence. The currency race to the bottom, is really code for a decimation of the median standard of living. This is especially true in a country that consumes so much of its own manufacturing.<p>Debasing the dollar and sending commodities soaring benefited a very small group of people (Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, Norway, commodity investors). Who it didn't benefit: US manufacturing that is consumed domestically. The oil price boom of the mid 2000's, caused by the weak dollar, also harmed the US dramatically as deficits soared and the Middle East got uber rich. It acted as a huge wealth transfer to Canada as well.<p>The soaring inequality was caused by the Fed's horrendous, and repetitive monetary policy mistakes. You'll find people on the left go out of their way to evade ever pinning any blame to the Fed (it makes the welfare state possible through deficits and debt, so they love the Fed), and the people on the right don't want to talk about inequality at all.<p>What did QE accomplish? Primarily it reinflated wealthy people's balance sheets, and reinflated the housing market (which disproportionately benefits the top half in the US). The median net wealth of Americans still hasn't recovered, even with housing and stocks so high. Skeptics will claim QE helped to heal the economy, generate jobs and so on - as though the US economy didn't do that on its own for 200 years prior to the Fed utilizing QE.