Estate taxes are ineffective as written at least right now in the US because they're too easy to avoid. But the idea of avoiding massive generational wealth is

Estate taxes are ineffective as written at least right now in the US because they're too easy to avoid. But the idea of avoiding massive generational wealth is really what's key. It's just bad for society. As for the Covid-19 vs the Black Plague, the similarity isn't in raw deaths (obviously). It's more that the plague (and possibly Covid) was a massive triggering event for social change and structural changes to the labour market. The last year and a half has taught us that going into the office is, for the most part, a fucking pointless waste of time at best and simply a means of exercising control at worst, for a huge chunk of the jobs out there. So you're seeing now a lot of pressure on wages as a result of increased labour mobility (effectively). Whether or not this is temporary remains to be seen. The optimist in me hopes it isn't temporary and it's part of a larger shift towards worker rights and living conditions.