Say you’re in the top 0.01 percent—or even the top 50 percent. Would you want to admit happenstance as a benefactor? Wouldn’t you rather believe that you earned your wealth, that you truly deserve it?
Of course you would. New research indicates that in order to justify your lifestyle, you might even adjust your ideas about the power of genes. The lower classes are not merely unfortunate, according to the upper classes; they are genetically inferior.
I think the key part bit here is just world theory it is easy to love a world that loves you back. To me the morality of Optimists is suspicious. I brings to mind a George Orwell piece where he says something to the effect of in colonizing cultures only conservatives can be happy because other people understand their wealth and comfort is paid for by other peoples misery. If George did not say that I will assume authorship for myself. I think this Billy Bragg song treats this issue nicely
to have and to have not - Billy Bragg
The best quote on Ayn Rand I've read is from xkcd (1049, Bookshelf, alt-text): "I had a hard time with Ayn Rand because I found myself enthusiastically agreeing with the first 90% of every sentence, but getting lost at 'therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone.'"