The exponential rise of the stock market, derivatives and other leveraged instruments, national debt, household debt, student loan debt, consumer loans held by the govt, subprime auto loan risk, Americans on food stamps, once-again global housing price index and on and on and on... have not been the norm "for a long time".
Federal authorities have not been keeping the stock market artificially afloat with billions of stimulus dollars "for a long time".
90% of S&P 500 profits have not been spent on corporate buybacks and dividends "for a long time".
High-frequency trading bots with fancy algorithms have not accounted for 70%+ of market volume "for a long time".
However... you know what also hasn't been around for a long time? The internet. Broad and deep information for the masses.
Couple all the dire systemic issues (above is just a sampling) with the fact that common people are being exposed to and researching certain truths at an exponential rate. It is for this reason that I believe we're nearing critical mass.