Hasn't a rich oligarchy been the status quo for most of humanity? It seems to me most of humanity has had quite a future to look forward to, historically speaking.
But anyway, oligarchs weren't this powerful in the mid-century. FDR's New Deal was successful in bringing down the Robber Barons and ushering in America's golden age. Coincidentally, things started to go to shit with the introduction of Reaganomics and the promise that letting a few private individuals concentrate more and more wealth would be beneficial to the economy.