Alas, dispossessing, exiling and auctioning off the richest of the rich won’t settle the matter once and for all. Insofar as much of their income gains have been driven by forces beyond our control, like globalization and technological change, a whole new class of 0.1 percenters will inevitably reconstitute itself.

We’ll need to go through these purges every five to 10 years. And also bring the marginal tax rate back to 70 percent where it stood until 1982 to discourage people from making too much money.

Only then will we have finally reined in inequality. Mind you, life prospects will not have improved for a single poor child born into a broken community with failing schools. Or for a single recent college grad crushed by debt and facing dim job prospects. Or for a single family struggling to make ends meet.

ISIL will continue to expand its Caliphate. Iran will not be any less likely to develop nuclear weapons. China and Russia will not scale back any of their ambitions. The climate will continue to change.