In order to ameliorate iniquity, you have to steal. Now you are in the position of saying who gets to do the stealing, who gets to be stolen from, and who gets to receive what was stolen. Voila, you've created a new power hierarchy which is supported by theft and force to those who resist the theft. The thieves become the elites, the stolen-from become the downtrodden, and the given-to become the politically favored. The underlying system hasn't changed, just how the players are arranged.
Addressing your more concrete examples:
1. The wealthy inheritor. While true that the sudden influx of wealth may confer an undue bump in social prestige, it won't last unless the individual knows how to keep it. Wealth is useless sitting in a hoard, it has to be expended; unwise expenditures will lead to negative returns. In other words, you don't stay rich for long unless you know what it takes to stay rich, which is in itself a form of merit. Even if that sounds distasteful to you, bear in mind that the alternative at which you hint simply involves stealing from this person and giving to those you favor, who are then placed in the same position: wealth, if you can keep it. If they're savvy enough to do that, then they will soon become either your next target or a new elite.
2. The monopolizing cartel. In order to monopolize a market in an environment where force and theft are forbidden, a company must offer a product that is most appealing to customers. That is a form of merit. Now, in order to maintain that position, the company must continue to offer the most appealing product. You might say: they could drive out competition by drastically undercutting their prices. Well, where is the harm in that? The competition either adapts if it can, or dies out; meanwhile, people pay lower prices. Then the cycle of raising prices, thus creating an incentive for competition, thus driving down prices, repeats until the cartel runs out of resources to play this game.
3. Negative externalities. If I pollute your arable land, then I have stolen it from you and replaced it with barren land. It is theft, albeit indirectly, and so falls under the category of forbidden things. The matter of appropriate remediation for crimes has not yet been addressed, so I'm not going to bring it up now.
Addressing your more concrete examples:
1. The wealthy inheritor. While true that the sudden influx of wealth may confer an undue bump in social prestige, it won't last unless the individual knows how to keep it. Wealth is useless sitting in a hoard, it has to be expended; unwise expenditures will lead to negative returns. In other words, you don't stay rich for long unless you know what it takes to stay rich, which is in itself a form of merit. Even if that sounds distasteful to you, bear in mind that the alternative at which you hint simply involves stealing from this person and giving to those you favor, who are then placed in the same position: wealth, if you can keep it. If they're savvy enough to do that, then they will soon become either your next target or a new elite.
2. The monopolizing cartel. In order to monopolize a market in an environment where force and theft are forbidden, a company must offer a product that is most appealing to customers. That is a form of merit. Now, in order to maintain that position, the company must continue to offer the most appealing product. You might say: they could drive out competition by drastically undercutting their prices. Well, where is the harm in that? The competition either adapts if it can, or dies out; meanwhile, people pay lower prices. Then the cycle of raising prices, thus creating an incentive for competition, thus driving down prices, repeats until the cartel runs out of resources to play this game.
3. Negative externalities. If I pollute your arable land, then I have stolen it from you and replaced it with barren land. It is theft, albeit indirectly, and so falls under the category of forbidden things. The matter of appropriate remediation for crimes has not yet been addressed, so I'm not going to bring it up now.