This is spot on. I agree with all these points. Personally, as a software dev, I feel like my career started to stall about 5 years ago in spite of being extre

This is spot on. I agree with all these points. Personally, as a software dev, I feel like my career started to stall about 5 years ago in spite of being extremely driven and consistently producing high quality results. I've also observed unqualified people being promoted. I had to quit some jobs because the person who was promoted above me was not competent. Projects started declining within a year after I left. It's obvious now that I'm not alone in having this experience. In a twisted way, I feel somewhat avenged by the current situation. There is something oddly satisfying about being forced to leave a once thriving organisation due to bad change of direction and then later watching it all collapse. It's rewarding to know that it was people like me who were holding the system together. Unfortunately it's the closest thing I got to feeling successful. My suppression and subsequent absence contributed to failure of the organisation in a very clear and obvious way. That's my version of success. I think the core problems are wealth inequality combined with cronyism... People are promoted for being friends (or more than just friends) with rich people. They're not promoted based on competence.