Thanks to the wonders of compound interest, you're either going to be on the long tail of never getting ahead or the rapid ski jump of wealth accumulation. If we, as a society, want to prevent that we need to tax the rich more. Full stop. The TL;DR of Piketty's Capital is Rich will get richer And the poor will get poorer Unless you fight hard
I've thought about this overnight and while what you say makes some sense, it's unsatisfying and doesn't seem to me to paint the whole picture that creates an overwhelming sense of unfairness. The unfairness goes beyond compound interest. It's tax evasion, tax shelters, and tax loopholes. It's undermining efforts to protect the environment, public health, and the best interest of the public in general. Many people at the top aren't just holding all the cards, they're stacking the deck, and changing the rules of the game every time they deal out a new hand.