None of that sank in at all, did it?
By the way, you could save yourself a lot of time with Piketty.
Just skip to Part 4 where the pillaging starts, which is of course the whole point of the book. For someone who claimes to be unimpressed with communism's record, Picketty has no problem visualizing a world-wide entity (Chapter 15) with enough raw power to tax the wealth--not income, wealth--of an entire planet (Picketty calls it "capital.") Everything he proposes requires immense government power.
The answer people like Picketty always have to wealth inequality is "just let people like me confiscate that wealth and we will make sure it's used properly."
And yeah, his premises and data need work. Particularly when applied to America.