I think they defend them because the mindset once your rich from your hard work you wouldn't want other people to knock you down. Its that the jealous mindset is stupid no matter how they got their money because if you one day were rich or in that position you wouldn't want other people to knock you. Plus in life there's rich and not so rich and people want to believe its their own hard work and ambition that will get them there. And the rest of the world assists the 1 percent cause we kind of have too. Thats capitalism for you. I wish we went back to the old days where people built their own houses, planted trees, and hunted for their own food. Adn then trade stuff. The problem is with no governments whos going to protect you or what if you have a disability and cant hunt so you can't trade. Theres problems with almost every system. But at least this is better than communism because millions of people were starving and ruled by an iron fist government when that happened. They didn't even have toothpaste to buy when everyone was working equally.