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That's how capitalism and meritocracy work unfortunately.

The Dude is absolutely right and spot on with this of course -- and in any case shouldn't have been downvoted for pointing it out.

Systematic social segregation and pervasive, manufactured feelings of inadequacy and inferiority aren't merely "bugs" in modern capitalism; they're among its core features.

That's the "real" problem here (as other commenters have identified in this thread).

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The argument for capitalism is that feelings and inadequacy are inherent to the human condition. With that in mind, people should:

1. have property rights so they have some say (even on the vote-with-your-feet level) in how things play out

2. the human condition can be leveraged against itself for general societal improvement

The counterargument is that a small group of humans can somehow design (and maintain!) a system that is somehow less susceptible to humanity.

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