(a.) the government itself is nothing but a corporation = true
(b.) and corporations are NOT MERITOCRACIES = true

There is a caveat to (b.), although corporations are not meritocracies, that doesn't mean a corporation cannot exist meritorious-like. Generally speaking, the meritorious individual or entity will rise to the top. However, if doing so allows them to receive government welfare, that's when things start to get fucky and questionable, and that's because the same merit that took them where they are can get discarded in favor of "being too big to fail." No, the failure needs to happen, and the people need to feel the pain, just like we need to feel the pain of our failing government for allowing it to get away with what we allowed. Government can only get away with what the people collectively allow.