The problem with your supposition here is that America's rich have been already acting like "corrupt, racist, oppressive, hypocriptical imperialists" for at least 120 years. United Fruit Company[0], the Business Plot[1], etc. For the rich, it has always been morally acceptable to cheat the system. The 20th century saw the establishment of pensions, then they were raided barely a generation afterwards.
I think what you're complaining about is that the historical propaganda (not to mention historical material abundance for the plebes) which smoothed over the bad stuff doesn't work as well in the modern age. There's cellphone cameras, whistleblowers, shrinkflation, and planned obsolescence these days. What investment and fellow-feeling should the little people feel for The System?
Many, if not most, of American's rich are self-made, most obviously in tech, where the amount of wealth accrued to Gen X's and Millennial boggles the mind. Does your indictment extent to those people was well, or is reserved for people whose parents were rich?
You're trying to muddy the waters by bringing up "high" tech salaries, given that we're both tech people. But we don't really make society-shaping decisions by bribing politicians (well, I don't). The sort of people who do, and the sort of people I'm referring to, and the sort of entitled cheating of The System that I object to, is well illustrated by this: https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-h...
Turning a $20 million donation into a $500 million tax break is both enriching oneself and starving everyone else. My "indictment" is a mere recognizance of what's in front of me. What does this look like to you?
I think what you're complaining about is that the historical propaganda (not to mention historical material abundance for the plebes) which smoothed over the bad stuff doesn't work as well in the modern age. There's cellphone cameras, whistleblowers, shrinkflation, and planned obsolescence these days. What investment and fellow-feeling should the little people feel for The System?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot