> Did they steal everything outright?

In a market economy, theft is illegal.

The Great Depression was not caused by rich people. It was caused by the Fed and its failure to understand the relationship with gold and dollars, and mismanagement of the bank reserves.

WW2 was not caused by rich people, nor by inequality.

Yet theft occurs.

Coercion occurs.

The market is held up by the enforcement of rules, and the US has spent several decades loosening the rules and defanging its watchdogs.