> You're missing the essence. That those who are desperate and poor can be punished easily, swiftly, harshly, but those who are wealthy tend to avoid punishment

> You're missing the essence. That those who are desperate and poor can be punished easily, swiftly, harshly, but those who are wealthy tend to avoid punishment and when it even occurs it is with herculean effort, sluggish, and limp. This is the fully orthogonal problem. In one case you're complaining that there is a law against theft that applies uniformly to everyone but only the poorest are desperate enough to steal. You can't fix this by making the law imply non-uniformly, because things fall apart if there exist people who are allowed to steal with impunity. You have to solve it some other way. In the other case there is a law against theft which is intended to apply uniformly but the rich manage to steal anyway and then weasel their way out of the consequences. In this case causing the law to imply uniformly to everyone is the solution.