The alternative is just as goofy, too. Lookit the span between the peasants and the top brass in China, for instance. I happen to know a very good internist from Russia (actually Belarus) who moved over here and the first thing he did was get a job, the second thing was get a car loan because he'd never even been in one let alone own one.
Um, JK Galbraith (I think) once said, "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism (a form of socialism), it's the reverse". Or something to that effect.
There must be a decent balance between them somewhere. Trouble is that with the pols we have running things, the rich continue to get richer and the poor, poorer; as Mikey said.