Funny thing about "super rich" buying politicians is some buy Dems and some buy Republicans. Looking at a list of lobbyists for instance it's pretty clear money from every side of every issue is flowing to politicians of all stripes. For every evil, wicked, mean and nasty Koch Bros there's an evil, wicked, mean and nasty George Soros.
But, aside from that, generally the rich become rich by creating or improving on a product or service people are willing to pay for. AND managing to compete with every other entrepreneur trying to fill the same niche. Along the way their products improve the lives of millions of customers, and provide jobs for millions and investment opportunities for others. Remember the old "if you don't like capitalists next time you need a job go ask a hippie"?
Am I saying the rich and ultra-rich are spotless angels? Nope, but then who is?
A common misconception about wealth is that it is a finite resource; that someone only gains wealth if someone else loses it. Wealth is unbounded, it's created almost continually. Suppose I go to Office depot and buy a ream of paper and a box of pencils - office depot's wealth has gone up by the amount of profit they make. Since I value the paper and pencils more than their cost my wealth as gone up as well.
So I take that paper and those pencils and write "The Great American Novel" and get an agent to find a publisher. When he succeeds I get an advance and the agent gets a commission - far more than the original cost of the paper and pencils; that wealth of the agent and me has gone up again. The publisher prints a million copies, sends them to bookstores and the first run sells out in two days - again the wealth of me, the agent, the publisher and the book stores has increased. Not bad for $10 worth of paper and pens, eh. And no one got anything stolen from them; each of us exchanged some thing we had for something we valued more.
This little scenario is played out millions of times in a capitalist economy. Simple as that.
