I’m not quite sure how unequal the world used to be, but I’m fairly certain the world is more equal (in terms of financial means) than the world was, say, in the 1600s. There are many things that enormous wealth allows you to buy that’s out of reach for middle-class American consumers, like yachts, personal assistants, private jets, multiple homes, etc. You can frame these things in terms of the problems they solve e.g. private jets solve the problem of travelling long distances, multiple homes solves the “problem” of wanting to go on vacation more often. Note that the problems persist across wealth brackets, it’s just that the ultra-wealthy have different methods of solving those problems. While the ultra-wealthy might solve the problem of “vacation travel” using a private jet, those without extreme wealth might travel using commercial airlines. The ultra wealthy introduce novelty into their lives by purchasing multiple homes, while everyone else goes on vacation and stay in a hotel or similar. If you cluster goods and services based on the problem they solve, most seem to be available at wide range of prices, with the higher end being around 2 or maybe 3 orders-of-magnitude greater than the lower end. For example: * Food: Higher end would look like full-time personal chef and regular fine-dining, lower end would look like grocery store pre-packaged meals and cheap fast-food. * Short-distance travel: Higher end would look like a full-time chauffeur in a custom Bentley, lower end would be public transport or an old car. * Long-distance travel: Higher end would frequent private jet flights, lower end would be infrequent commercial airline travel * Time-telling: ~$10 Casio through to a ~$100k Rolex * Education: free public school vs ~$50k/year elite schools + private tuition * Politics: In a democracy, voting is free. But if you have $100k+, you can lobby for areas of your choosing or sponsor political candidates. * Healthcare: regulation makes this less cle