That's not the point Pratchett is making here. He is pointing to the fact that Vimes cannot afford the good boots. Ever. He explains there is no way for him to even save up for leather boots. It may also be worth noting that that character then benefit from having had bare soles and it becomes a kind of superpower to read the ground.

That said there is a big flaw in merotocracy, which is that the super rich have exponentially disappeared from that arena and owns the world now, and they don't stop harvesting more at the detriment of the planet while actually not doing anything with the money extracted.