rich people are dumb that's why they don't always stay rich lol

That's... exactly why Hive is awesome.
It's a self correcting system that transfers wealth to people more deserving of it.
And then those new people control the system.

meritocracy

Meritocracy is an illusion; an impossibility.
It's completely self-defeating and ridiculous.

In order to have a meritocracy, one must have a way to measure merit.
But if you have a way to measure merit with 0% corruption,
then you've already created a superior reputation system that trumps money altogether.
Thus meritocracy is a fantasy utopia that can't exist, almost by definition.
There's a reason why Star Trek never attempts to describe the politics of it's own meritocracy.
Meritocracy is a paradox that cancels itself out.
A utopian solution will never be made real.
Idealism never wins.