re: Earn and merit
It would be easier to swallow "the deserving rich" as an idea if more of them were rags-to-riches stories.
Most of them are riches-to-even-more-riches stories, or comfortable-to-opulent stories. The fact is, in most cases, one has to have money to make money, and the money one has is usually family money.
This would be an effective argument, if it were true.
From this source on U.S. millionaires:
* Only 19 percent receive any income or wealth of any kind from a trust fund or an estate.
* Fewer than 20 percent inherited 10 percent or more of their wealth.
* More than half never received as much as $1 in inheritance.
* Fewer than 25 percent ever received "an act of kindness" of $10,000 or more from their parents, grandparents, or other relatives.
* Ninety-one percent never received, as a gift, as much as $1 of the ownership of a family business.
* Nearly half never received any college tuition from their parents or other relatives.
* Fewer than 10 percent believe they will ever receive an inheritance in the future.
But then, the myth that it's all "inherited" fits right smack into the "they don't deserve it" meme, doesn't it? And if they don't deserve it, well, then we can take it away from them.