When I wrote on wealth inequality at If Today’s U.S. Net Worth Were Distributed Fairly, Here’s How Much Money You’d Have, the majority of people commenting said 1) The rich work harder so they deserve more, or. 2) I would have no right to steal money from people (which I was not encouraging). Each person who commented in this vein, after reading how much more money they would have if things were more fair, chose continued and ever-increasing wealth inequality. So, I know what you mean when you write that it's hard to get people to give up the notion that merit and wealth and intertwined.