inequality in America declined in the decades following World War II. Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, ushering in an era of union-busting, financial deregulation, leveraged buyouts, and the financialization of the American economy. What ensued was a precipitous increase in inequality, whether measured by income or by accumulated wealth, and except for short pauses, it kept rising. By 2019, the United States was one of the most unequal countries on earth.
