I didn't say that it was happening "only" in the last 8-9 years. It's just the time that "I" remember most vividly.

Disparity in wealth only happened in the last 8 or 9 years?????

Is that a serious statement or some kind of joke?

No, I'm not surprised. When the banks failed, credit dried up and people were unable to continue to use credit to buy things. There's been a false economy for years now. It couldn't go on forever and the bubble finally burst.
Disparity in wealth, such as we have seen in the last 8-9 years, will always have this effect. It is one of the reasons the great depression happened.

As long as we continue to shovel taxpayer money out the window, the rates will not improve and could easily worsen. The most quoted observation of the philosopher George Santayana is: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Just consider:

B. Hussein Obama seems determined to repeat every disastrous mistake of the 1930's, at home and abroad. He has already repeated Herbert Hoover's policy of raising taxes on high income earners, FDR's policy of trying to micro-manage the economy and Neville Chamberlain's policy of seeking dialogues with hostile nations while downplaying the dangers they represent.

Thomas Sowell, 07 April 2009