I know a farmer in my state who makes roughly twenty million dollars per year in profits. He works hard every day to provide for his large family. He runs a business, and there is the ever present risk of drought or commodity price fluctuations, and most people believe he earns his money honestly.
I know a farmer in Mexico who makes roughly $5000 per year. He works hard every day to provide for his large family. He runs a business, and there is the ever present risk of drought or the risk or price fluctuations, and most people believe that he earns his money honestly.
These two men both work hard, in basically the same industry, with basically the same business model, and yet one of them is among the wealthiest people on the planet and the other legitimately fears his children might starve this year. What's the difference? It's not the amount of responsibility they have, and it's not how hard they work every day.
The difference is privilege. One of them was born into a stable democracy with advanced infrastructure that supports his operations. He gets tax breaks and crop insurance, and a steady and reliable supply of irrigation water, and access to chemicals and pesticides, and a political system that enforces his property rights, and a ravenous market of consumers who want his product. The other was born into a much less stable country, where his land is often ruined by neighbors or criminals, his crop is routinely stolen or destroyed, his water supply is often contaminated or totally dry, and he has no way to collect, store, distribute, or profit from whatever production excess he can manage, other than a roadside fruit stand that is routinely robbed by the corrupt state and local police.
It's important to recognize your privilege. Yes, the American farmer works hard and considers himself morally virtuous, but so does the Mexican farmer. The vast wealth an American farmer can accumulate is not due to his actions or his superiority, but due to the incredibly fortunate and secure environment into which he was born and in which he now operates his business.