three felonies a day

[gluckq]

The poor do not so much break the law as the law breaks them. When laws and regulations reach sufficient complexity and burden, they serve as a barrier to competition and mean that only the rich can navigate them. Everyone else becomes accidental criminals.

This is why large banks lobby for more regulation. It’s costly to the big banks, but they can afford the armies of lawyers and lobbyists, whereas small community banks can’t afford compliance and succumb to a cheap buyout.

There’s also a political element. A tyrant doesn’t want a nation of law abiding citizens -- those are impossible to intimidate. A nation with laws so numerous and complex that everyone violates some grants the tyrant the power of selective enforcement.