The theoretical model you are talking about here sounds ok at first glance but bares no resemblance to how it has played out in reality the last ten years.

People are not rational actors no matter how much we want them to be.

Turns out it’s really simple to convince people to act against their own self interest on a mass scale with a few psychological tricks.

Someone who knowingly and repeatedly spent their time, money and resources doing that for their own personal gain when they were already at the top of society is worthy of contempt and maybe worse.