Meritocracy: A Closer Look: Part II

Economic warfare

The first thing you should know is that economic war kills more than does conventional warfare. It is estimated that each year about 17 to 20 million people die of starvation, mostly children. Have you ever wondered why African and Latin American countries with large mineral resources, from diamonds and other gems, to oil, iron, tin, copper, and gold — without which the world today could not function — are of the poorest countries in the world? Are we to believe that global poverty happens by chance because the markets are supposedly free? Markets are controlled and manipulated, as seen in the interest rate rigging scandal of LIBOR. It’s very simple: money begets more money, and someone has to be without it. Normally the weakest are without. The money does not disappear; it just changes hands.

Economic war modus operandi

If you look at the history of Africa and Latin America, you will see that they were and still are brutally exploited by unscrupulous capitalists. It’s no coincidence that armed “revolutions” happened often and still happen in many of these countries, which were and are ruled by despots. By whom are these revolutions are funded? Who really gains with such revolutions? It’s certainly not the people of these countries, but rather one despot and his supporters, and of course international financial groups such as the IMF and Goldman Sachs.

After the revolution is financed by foreign capital, the country needs money for reconstruction, arms, and the bringing of “civilization”. What happens next? External debts. A country can be completely ruled by foreigners if too much debt is owed to foreigner lenders. To pay those debts, governments that are merely puppets open the “doors” to large multinational corporations to exploit the richness of the soil of their country, and even give foreign construction firms contracts for the reconstruction jobs. Foreign aid does not come for free; certain favors have to be promised by the party requesting the money. In a sense, the money never really leaves the hands of the one who lends. Since the borrowed money does not bring big money and jobs to the native inhabitants, the money passes through the hands of the state, which will deliver it to the contracted foreign companies. Only a tiny fraction of the money actually remains in the country. Who pays the debt? The native people, of course. The consequences of these policies are unemployment, extreme poverty, hunger, prostitution, crime, slavery, genocide, and persecution of intellectuals, political prisoners, and refugees.

Another exploitation strategy is to sell products at prices so low that even third world countries cannot compete; so the exploiters thereby undermine any possible development. This is commonly known as unfair competition. The sugar beet, which is important to the diet of many African countries, is an example of such a product.

Crises in western countries are also used to give more power and advantage to elite families, and to the institutions controlled by them, specifically the banks that broke countries into pieces, privatizing their biggest industries, and countries which have foreign debts, and difficulty paying the interest. Since the markets are speculative and controlled by a few extremely powerful players, who bet in favor of these countries going into default, their economies are being ruined. To counter this, the states are voraciously decapitalize its citizens, impoverishing the nation. The culprits are of course the “free” markets with their super rich beneficiaries and greedy, selfish, stupid, and poor-of-spirit politicians, who do not have a clue as to what they are doing. The politicians that are clearly linked to capitalists are just career whores, chosen within a certain political party, which once again shows that the right to vote and choose in a democracy is no more than a bad joke. Countries such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland are currently victims of this type of scheme, which includes a tendency to spread to other European countries. The other big advantage is the acquisition of competing companies and banks weakened by crises at very low prices, giving the global elite an even greater monopoly of the market share. Crisis or not, these guys always win, and they do so at the expense of all other inhabitants of the world.

Creating stress, giving rise to slaves

Have you noticed that, in any western country, the amount of money earned and commanded by the population and the time needed to pay the mortgage of a house or car to the bank are the same as in any other western country? This pattern shows that banks are always inflicting stress on people, because of the requirement of an average of 20 – 30 years to afford a house, and 6 – 7 years to pay off a car. The people have to work without thinking, in order to pay the debt to the banks.

Capitalism can survive only if people buy, so it is constantly producing low quality products, which is done on purpose by unscrupulous capitalists to continue to sell, and for the machine to continue working. If products last long, capitalism may be at higher risk of death, or yield much smaller profits. Fifteen years ago, an appliance lasted between ten to fifteen years; these days, if it lasts five years, you’ve beat the system. Every day we are bombarded by advertising, credit cards, motorcycles, houses, cars, telecommunications, and pretty much everything. What you have to ask yourself is whether you really need it; what we want is different from what we need. The more money you spend on what you don’t really need, the more money goes to big capitalists. They increasingly get richer and you, poorer and more indebted. Wouldn’t it be better to use the money to create something, or spend it on what you really need, rather than superfluities that are always bombastically advertised? Conventional media and advertising are intentionally brainwashing the public. Don’t forget that anyone who is defined by objects is doing nothing more than objectifying themselves, to eliminate their own identity if they ever had it, not to mention being completely childish (I have a new toy and you don’t). Status games are just child’s play. Isn’t it time to grow up? They think that by buying a bigger house or a bigger car they will become happier. Think again. If you have not noticed, it is because of these individuals that the worst evils of the world exist. There is no denying the consequences of their decisions. Will you let them continue?

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” — Lily Tomlin

The solution

Merely pointing out everything that is wrong in this world will not actually fix anything. People who say that everything is bad, but do not provide any solution, do not know minimally what are they doing, nor what they want. We have the solution in Meritocracy.

The principles of Meritocracy are as follows:

1. No nepotism. No matter who your parents are, it matters only who you are.

2. No cronyism. One advances and is promoted based on merit.

3. No discrimination of any kind, including sex, race, or age.

4. Equal opportunity for all. Everyone begins life at the same starting point. It is the efforts and talent of the individual that guide what heights an individual can reach.

5. Rewarding merit. The biggest and best prizes go to those who are more efficient, deliver better results, and work for the good of everyone.

Meritocracy ends privilege in all forms, as leadership by privilege is Meritocracy’s antithesis. How will Meritocracy do that? First, we will legislate against the super rich, breaking down their power and ability to influence and corrupt the system: Enter the Millionaire’s Estate Tax.