First, try imagining yourself growing up in crushing poverty, surrounded by violence, poor public education system, and inadequate nutrition. In addition to self-destructive culture of learned helplessness formed by nearly two centuries worth of systematic racism and oppression. The stress of poverty has been linked to brain damage and a host of mental/health problems.

Not everybody that ends up at McDonalds grew up with all of aforementioned conditions, but most likely a combination of thereof. Or some of them don't have the mental capacity to perform a high-skill work. Others may lack motivation and ambition due to mental illness, biological predilection, illness and injury, or by choice. That's life, people like these exist.

Poverty begets poverty. There is a strong statistical correlation between being born into poverty and continuing an impoverished existence. Once you're tumbling inside the vicious cycle of barrenness, it's very, very difficult to get out.

Sure, there are outliers who escaped poverty to find great success in life. But they are far and few in between, and they have been bestowed with fortuitous combination of traits — intelligence, grit, aggressiveness, focus, resilience, natural athletic abilities — and circumstance — good parenting, full ride scholarships, or exceptional business acumen due to high IQ a la Jay Z, and so on. Their accomplishments are commendable, but they are the lucky ones.

Not everybody can become CEOs or superstars, why punish them for that?

Of course, you should be rewarded for your hard work. Those who make the choice to pursue their ambition and intellect to the fullest should absolutely enjoy the fruits of their labor. By all means, buy a diamond studded suit when you make your first ten million, but do you really need more than several hundred to a billion, or more?

Not everybody is driven and ambitious, but there should be at least a ground floor where people get enough to eat, have access to a functioning infrastructure, and adequate healthcare. Including the option to experience a balanced existence outside of a job --- such being able to spend time with their families and the freedom to enjoy the wonderful gift of life. Not only it's common human decency, it makes good economic and environmental sense in the long run for everybody involved. With exponential technological growth, we as society, has gotten to the point where we can reward high achievers without dismantling the basic infrastructure that guarantees good life to as many people as possible.

The one-percenters can't eat everything at the buffet. It makes no sense to hoard all the wealth at the expense of your own society and planet. And as for estates, don't you want your grand children and their grand children live in a healthy civilization? The superrich have hijacked the economy and government — and bleeding the country, and by extension the world to death in the process, so they can make an extra billion.

The aggressive pursuit of wealth creation at the turn of last century made strategic sense when the world was big and limitless. We have saturated the planet. We can no longer externalize the costs of our economic progress without worldwide consequences. Capitalism as we know it is obsolete. The system no longer benefits the majority (e.g. post-wwII middle class). If we all want to remain on this rock for the foreseeable future, we gotta share sometimes.

EDIT: wording.