It's not that merit is bad. It's that money is often used as a proxy for merit. If you have lots of money a common default assumption is that you earned that money through merit of some kind.
So you have phrases like: "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"
Sounds like a tension between what is and what should be.
As it stands now, it seems like there are ways other to make lots of money other than merit. Is that an argument against meritocracy? It sounds like it's the opposite to me.
The loudest proponents of meritocracy tend to be the ones that have none but simply wish to use their capital for their private lackey class unimpeded. It's a bit of a dog whistle.
So you have phrases like: "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?"