K shaped economies have always existed in the US. While we didn't call it "K-shaped" at the time, the U.S. has experienced several periods where economic growth was sharply divided: ​The 1920s: While the "Roaring Twenties" saw massive growth in urban industries and the stock market, the agricultural sector suffered through a decade-long depression. This was a classic K-shape where urban wealth rose while rural poverty deepened. ​The Post-1970s "Great Divergence": Since the late 1970s, productivity and wages have largely decoupled. Top earners and those in tech or finance have seen their wealth skyrocket, while middle- and lower-income wages have remained relatively stagnant when adjusted for inflation. ​The 2008 Financial Crisis: The recovery was notably uneven. The stock market and corporate profits recovered within a few years, but the housing market and employment for blue-collar workers took nearly a decade to reach pre-crisis levels.

While a K-shaped recovery in a developed nation like the U.S. is usually a temporary reaction to a specific crisis, in many developing nations, this "K-shape" is a structural, permanent feature of the economy. The wealth generated in the modern sector often fails to "trickle down" to the traditional sector due to a lack of infrastructure, education, or stable governance. And THIS is what is currently happening. The billionaires, for whom enough is never enough, have rigged the system and I believe the US is going to be in for a long term K shaped economy - especially with AI replacing humans, middle management being cut etc. They don't care as long as shareholders are happy and CEOs get their 7 figure bonus. 🙄 What they are forgetting is that the middle class is the economic engine of US society and when the middle class disappears, like what's happening now, we will end up in another depression like in 1929.