The myth of the deserving rich.

The single most important truth about life under capitalism is this: The poor do not deserve to be poor, and the rich do not deserve to be rich.

I'm glad to see Krugman acknowledging it.

I've never heard anyone say that an actor deserved an Oscar BECAUSE his peers chose him. Rather, people say that his peers chose him BECAUSE he deserved it (if they agree with the choice, of course). The same goes for elections. To the extent that we talk about politicians deserving to be elected, the "deserving" part comes first, and the "being chosen" part comes second, as a CONSEQUENCE of being deserving.

To deserve an Oscar you have to be a good actor. To deserve to be elected you have to be a good politician. Now, we might disagree on what it means to be a "good actor" or a "good politician", but it certainly does NOT mean "persuading other people that you are one" and nothing else.

In no area of life do we say that persuading other people to give you X is the sole criterion for deserving X.

And I don't think there's anyone insane enough to really believe that persuading other people to give you money automatically means you deserve that money. Do con artists deserve their money? Does Paris Hilton deserve her money? Does the leader of Scientology deserve his money?