Your first sentence makes some sense, but your second is way off base. Over a time scale of generations the wealth gap is controlled by larger social/taxation/

Your first sentence makes some sense, but your second is way off base. Over a time scale of generations the wealth gap is controlled by larger social/taxation/etc questions. (For one example, in the US more public money is spent educating a rich student than a poor one) However, in the shorter day-to-day or year-to-year time scales it's mostly just a reflection of equity values. The rich have a lot of their money in equities and the poor have none. If at the closing bell the stock markets are up then the wealth gap just increased that day; if they're down it has shrunk. The "dollar losing value" argument is silly. The opponents of loose monetary policy (and especially gold bugs and bitcoin fanboys) have been predicting sky-high inflation. When it didn't show up on cue their line morphed into this wishy-washy claim that inflation is somehow secretly high. Believe me, when inflation is high its not a secret.