A reply to an excess of meritocracy in singapore

A meritocracy society is one who rewards those which it seems have created value for it. The rewards are in a sense IOU notes that society owes them. And not what they have benefited from society. It is instead the other way around. The society as a whole has benefited from them. Therefore it is unjust to take from them and even more immoral to say that they have benefited from society and they should give back more.

The people who earn their money have the choice of what or who they decide to spend it on. The higher income has chosen to invest on their family and the next generation be it in making connections in trying to make their next generation have a good living is a thing of merit and a wise choice to make. Those who do not fall. And there comes the phrase 3 generations from short sleeves to short sleeves. Or even the chinese saying. 富不过三代.

To level the playing field. How are we going to do this? Are we going to be immoral and confiscate all the IOU of society from people who have benefited society? Environmental conditions? Interaction with different people. Free will? Luck? Genetics? How are we going to achieve that. Are we going to kill all the others who not the same. History has shown the countless lives loss to such an ideology. Similarly also it dire consequence of implementing such an ideology. Like starving to death.

The vicious cycle of being poor. We are rich compared to a hundred years ago. The bottom 10% is richer than the top 10% a hundred years ago. Overall living standard has improved. We live better. Live longer. Survival from illness is also higher. How can we say that is a vicious cycle. We were brought to think that having everyone had higher education would all bring us to the top 10% that is impossible. The top 10% is the top 10%. Be it their talent. Their hard work. The wise investment choices they made that paid off. There will always be top 10% richest and bottom 10% poorest. Ultimately that is just a economic number. The question we should ask is are we better off now then before. The answer is overwhelmingly yes.

Extreme poverty rate has more than halved.

The point about the vicious cycle of poverty is missing the point. We maybe reaching a point which we may just be the bottom 0.001% we have no problem feeding ourselves. A nice place to live and stay. No problem with getting sick and seeing doctor.