Thing is that "comfortable past" was only a period of a few decades. Before that, it was very much like what we are going through now. All the money were in the hands of a few corporations. Monopolies squeezed every dollar they could get. What stopped it, at least in the US, was that the government stepped in with regulations. But, oh, no, can't do that now because that is "socialism" and "communism." And that's bad! So, it seems instead we de-regulate more and more every year in the hopes that will fix the problem. Like stabbing someone over and over hoping that it would stop the bleeding. The private sector has convinced the voting public to hate anything related to regulation. You see, regulations hurt their bottom line. On the other hand, they help the consumer. But, again, the public has bought corporation lies that deregulation is what is best for the consumer. And, so, we are here.