The thing that worries me is if you turn the clock back to 1890ish stuff was atrocious for anyone that wasn't in the wealth class and the wealth class for the most part was okay with the exploitation and death that surrounded their wealth. I don't think the turn back to that is necessarily something that is out of reach, but it obviously wouldn't look exactly the same. Some of these oligarchs want people poor and uneducated because they become easy to take advantage of, Elon is one of those people.
Just in some of my pondering I have been considering some of the moves going on recently to be in opposition to financial stability for wage earners. I believe there is a certain point where the uber wealthy can turn in some of their wealth for even more power. I don't think we can make the assumption that some of these people with insane wealth are just looking for more wealth. It would be safer to assume the next step is power and property.
Historically this has all played out a ton of times. The US really had a short period of prosperity for the middle class that spans basically the time of the New Deal era and to a lesser and diminishing way into the stock holder supremacy era. As income inequality continues to grow, desperation grows with it, and desperation is a catalyst for exploitation and dehumanization.
I hope I am wrong.