For an awful lot of people, it basically is - I mean, practically the entire field of finance and professional management would look at the example I gave and say, "that's exactly the right thing to do." Mitt Romney's entire professional career follows that principle, and it's largely seen as a net positive to his political career (as a Republican).
I agree with you, I think it's an enormously damaging philosophy, both to the bearer and to the rest of us, but again, it may be locally optimal.
1. Every person accrues $10
2. One person, "Bob", accrues $100, everyone else accrues $1
This is what I mean by local vs global interest - roughly, "in the interest of a given individual" vs "the best outcome across all individuals."