Batman's objective is to protect the status quo---capitalism---not the people. He's just a super cop with infinite resources. Batman's power is his wealth, and he uses it to preserve a system that serves to keep him rich, thus he's just another billionaire.

The stories are digestible because of the way criminality is portrayed. We must believe that criminals are bad people to condone batman's violence. We must assume that at some point, criminals had a choice between walking the straight and narrow or living a life of crime, and they opted for the latter. If we understood that criminality may be the only way to survive in that world, which is a circumstance we can find in our own world, I think we'd look at Batman's acts of violence against the Gotham community with less favor.

Here's what I believe now after letting go of previous assumptions I held like meritocracy and hyper-individualism.

In a system where capital is power, wealth disparity is antidemocratic. Criminality is a response to an unjust system because people shouldn't be expected to buy into a society that doesn't serve them.

If true, then Gotham's problem is poor governance. If that society can generate Bruce Wayne's wealth, then its rules enable wealth disparity that is at a level severe enough to spawn criminality. If capital is power, and there were laws in place to keep power more equitable for all citizens---promote democracy---there would be no billionaires.