Quite a few people are willing to ruin their own lives and prosperity to make others worse off. Once you realize that, a lot of things become more explicable.
But I don't think their goal is explicitly to make others worse off, it's just the consequence of their actions. But in their mind, they're rightful, they're doing the best they can and they care about others on the level "you should". Most people think like this, including you and me.
In the near future almost all work will have been automated. That leaves a few thousand very rich people and billions who have no paid income. That is not a good ratio and the rich and powerful want things to go in their favour, not ours.
"Isn't the eventual aim of all of us on this planet that we all trade free, live peacefully and have our own prosperous lives?"
It's not about all of us. It's about a select few who think they are better than the rest of us and form our political and business classes.
Those people don't want most of the world's population living untroubled lives. When work is almost completely automated the rest of us will be surplus to requirements.
