In addition, when there is economic growth there is more social mobility, because people can get higher in the wealth ranking without others losing wealth in absolute terms. In other words, when economic growth falters, economic activity and social mobility become more of a zero-sum game, which is why we're seing all this wealth capture at the top of the dung heap. The limits of growth are at hand, the game is now closer to zero-sum, and those at the top seem to know it, if only instinctively.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides