> you do need something more extreme

That's how you end up with an over-regulated country where people doing great things for the country's economy start choosing a different country to build their dreams in.

It's also how you drive the currently-wealthy to other countries to spend and invest their fortunes in.

The possibility of being ultra-wealthy is a huge reason to build awesome shit in the US that creates millions of jobs and brings the US economy ahead.

How is rent-seeking and monopolizing "doing great things for the country's economy"?

This nefarious logic has been used for 50 years to justify ever worse austerity and tax breaks for the wealthy. And look at the situation today: pedophile oligarchs rule the world while we fight for scraps. The West has no future, unless we start aggressively redistributing wealth.