Puncturing the 1% balloon

From new regulations on coal burning power plants to Seattle's raising the minimum wage to $15.00/hr., the new gilded age is under attack on several fronts.   Since the possibility of raising taxes on the richest among us is a near impossibility in the short term, raising the wages of the 99% is probably the best way to combat growing economic inequality.   Thomas Piketty's new book examining and documenting the rise of  the richest since the 1980s is drawing fire from the usual suspects, but so far he is defending his conclusions.  The trouble is there is no road map to fix this mess.  Barring a great depression and a world war such as we had in the 1930s and 40s, there will be no New Deal and G.I. bill to counteract the growing concentration of wealth.   This concentration will only become worse as the scions of the wealthy  inherit the fortunes their fathers built.  With millions invested in relatively safe instruments, these offspring will be able to perpetuate their status without the work and skill their parents exhibited.  The estate tax was supposed to be the great leveler which put each generation on a level playing field, but it has not kept up with the fantastic amounts of money being passed down.  Even taking 50% of 20 billion dollars still leaves plenty for future generations of the wealthy.  That's one reason the list of richest Americans is being dominated by the likes of the Waltons and Kochs.  So, in the short term, we need to pump up the income of everyone else at the expense of the rent seeking upper class.