How will the 1990s be remembered in the 2050s?

[SInNYC]

From a US history book in 2050:

The 1990s saw a validation of the policies of the 1980s (after a brief reversal in the late 1980s) as almost all in America accepted the general economic and civic themes of the 1980s. This led to a laissez-faire approach to governing and a second gilded era of both unprecedented wealth and reduced economic mobility in shocking reversals of the post-WWII era. While there were periods of economic booms, growth was concentrated among the extreme rich at the same time as increased levels of poverty. The new economy was primarily urban, as agribusiness replaced family farms and the resulting rural depopulation was faced with declining rural infrastructure.

Social patterns were also changing rapidly as the effects of the civil rights and immigration reforms of the 1960s were beginning to be felt. There was increasing acceptance of minorities among many coupled with resentment by those left out of the new economy, accelerating in the 2000s. Ultimately, the policies led to the emergence of a virulently nationalist movement by the 2010s....

Question at the end of the chapter:
The US changes of the 90s were paralleled by changes in other western countries following the fall of the Berlin wall.  Were these changes influenced more by the US changes or by the end of 20th-century communism? Support your answer with plausible outcomes if one of the two hadn't happened.