One justification for an unequal distribution of wealth is that people think that as long as everyone can eat, this situation is acceptable. Another justification is that leaders take great risks and investments and they need extra money to reward them for it. The final justification is that they are serving a vital function of society and society would not function well without them.
The problem with the first justification is that the majority of the world we never see in America do end up not having enough to eat. Many Americans give to charities to offset this, but we do not do that: collectively on a large enough scale, it is almost impossible logistically to get the supplies to the right people, and it is also corrosive to the independence of these countries to depend on a fickle and short sighted nation.
The problem with the second justification is there is plenty of monetary reward, but there is an inherent risk the business leader takes to achieve that wealth. There is no free lunch in capitalism. Trying to remove risk from investment was the root cause of the financial crisis of 2008.
The third justification does not hold up, because the leaders are paid a huge sums, even when the company doesn’t make any profit that year or goes bankrupt. The government gives companies technology, research, natural resources, and even fight major wars for their direct benefit. Most fraud is also caused by companies, not individuals. The basis of wealth beyond a certain point is usually based on unethical practices.
Many companies have little to no competition and those that do often collude. Companies try to reduce expenses by not paying a livable wage to employees by using illegal immigrants, prison labor, foreign workers in other countries, independent contractors, and automate everything possible.
Corporations are often the slow death of a company as little innovation happens, they have huge bureaucracies, and they are little more than marketing shells, with most actual production of products outsourced. They usually get technology by buying little startups, because they are unwilling to take risks or have patience to invest in a project over time.
Corporations make much more money than small companies, because they sell parts of their company in the form of stocks. Small companies are rarely talked about, because they don’t have as much money, but they do employ more people, especially Americans.
Ultimately, our whole economic system is a house of cards, managed by the banks. The difference between the American and Russian economies, during the Cold War, was one of size, as both manage their economies, just with different methods. Due to geography, disease, and history, America has much more wealth.