> But when I see this I view it as punishment to those who figured out how to "succeed in life" with regard to acquiring wealth.

And this is one of several reasons why we have income inequality: people such as yourself who are stuck in a bad place don't want help getting out of it.

The problem is that you seem to look at rich people as having gotten there as a function of only their own success and hard work, when in reality they got there for a variety of external reasons they had no control over: maybe they were born into wealth, or maybe they were born into a race with structural advantages, or... (the list goes on).

The fact that you are in poverty is likely due to a large number of factors that you've had no control over, or never could expect to have control over, even factors that may have been put into place generations before you were born. I'm not saying you bear zero responsibility for your situation or should bear zero responsibility for getting out of it, but it's also patently false that you bear 100% of the fault, and my belief is that you also should not be forced to bear 100% of the responsibility for getting out of it.

I'll freely admit that some of my motivations are selfish: I hate the higher crime that poverty brings, which makes me feel less safe. I hate stepping over human feces left by homeless people when I walk around my city. I hate being asked for money on the sidewalk. I want more people who are unburdened by crippling financial worries who can help improve our society. But overall the bottom line is that I hold no illusion that I'm in a secure financial state based solely on my own work and actions. I've had a lot of help along the way, and it's insane to think that it's fair for me to avoid helping others improve their situation.