The people that "made the rules" knew exactly what they were doing. It's silly to think otherwise. The intentions and goals just did not align with the masses. The system is working perfectly for their children and their children's children.
Don't assume stupidity is the answer for a system more easily understood by maintaining power and material benefit for a specific class. All that does is give you a sense of a intellectual victory that is meaningless in obtaining, what you really need, a material one.