Episode 18- No Seriously, Eat the Rich – Show Notes

Appellate attorney, Mary Whiteside is joined by Professor of Rhetoric, Lee Pierce and today we are looking at how the legal system was rigged to protect the rich and well connected. To understand just how rigged the system is we have to understand a little bit more about the stinking filthy rich. This episode takes a peek inside their private jet lifestyle.

The unchecked accumulation of wealth creates a vast disparity of wealth distribution is the single biggest threat to humanity. We the People can unite to stop it. Tax the Rich to Save the Planet.

This podcast looks at the power behind the law. Law is about the rules that we as a society adopt. We think we can change those rules. But, can we? You cannot have an honest discussion about the law without acknowledging and talking about power distribution. The main reason the system is so broken is because it was designed by rich people, who rigged the rules to favor them and people like them especially when the rich people’s priorities come into conflict with poorer people’s rights. 

1. How do the rich really live? Beware, this isn’t some fetishized description of their indulgence luxuries.

2) For the rich, crime pays.

1. They don’t get prosecuted for the crimes they commit and if they do get prosecuted they receive light sentences, e.g. the Sacklers, Bernie Madoff.
2. Whereas, the poor get hammered by the system. The police and prosecutors project an image of being tough on crime and focused on law and  order, but in reality they ignore the crimes committed by the rich people, like tax evasion, corporate theft, wage theft, fraud, and vast criminal conspiracies like those perpetrated by the pharmaceutical companies. The police and prosecutors instead shift the public’s attention on individual crimes like assaults, smaller thefts, and drug dealing. They chose to wield the power of the state against the poor. 

3) What is the plan? Tax the rich to save the planet. It’s not super complicated, frankly.

CONCLUSION: The deadliest of the seven deadly sins is proving to be avarice. The accumulation of gobs and gobs of wealth derived from the underpaid labor of the masses. The ultra rich clearly aren’t going to give their wealth away because if they were they would already have done it. They are miserable, to benefit them and us Tax the Rich to Save the Planet.

Resources

• https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Jackpot/Michael-Mechanic/9781982127213
• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/books/review-jackpot-super-rich-michael-mechanic.html
• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/bernie-madoff-dies-mastermind-of-the-nations-biggest-investment-fraud-was-82.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7015a1.htm
• https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/purdue-and-sacklers-agree-to-usd4-5-billion-opioid-settlement.html
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-WHB-4703
• https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/20/how-much-money-you-need-to-be-happy-according-to-wealth-experts.html
• https://bookshop.org/books/jackpot-how-the-super-rich-really-live-and-how-their-wealth-harms-us-all/9781982127213
• Article: Money Buys Happiness citing a study from Princeton University conducted by economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman

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