"I know the rich aren't all getting richer simply from some sinister new system for transferring wealth to them from everyone else,"

401(k)'s are a great example of shifting wealth to the wealthy. SS was used to fund general government spending, but nobody got directly rich from it. With 401(k)'s the financial sector can skim a vast pool of money from the middle class with a huge range of hidden fees. Toss in a 10% fee for pulling money out in an emergency and it's surprisingly bad for younger workers vs simply investing money and paying the trivial cap gains taxes.

On top of that it inserted 100's of billions of dumb money into the market which creates tones of opportunity's to make money using HFT etc.