Using that logic, a homeless person with a casio watch is better off than Charlemagne.

We should be comparing now with now. And most importantly, we should be comparing wealth inequality because wealth translates directly to power and wealth inequality means power inequality.

Nobody is competing against anyone from 1973 or 1873. We are competing against people today. And the accumulation of wealth and power by a small group of elites should concern everyone regardless of the price of insignificant trinkets.