The upper middle class pay the majority of payroll taxes by far. The wealthy are almost exclusively taxed via dividend and capital gains taxes and at a much lower rate than most of us.
They won't stop working on important things. What is their alternative? Sell everything they own and move to Canada? Just sit around and drink beer all day?
See albuterol inhalers. Its absurd. They changed the propellant for the delivery system and somehow that is novel enough to be awarded a new patent. People will die without these and the drug is 50 years old at this point.
It took Amazon more than 14 years—58 quarters after its May 1997 initial public offering—to make, cumulatively, as much profit as it produced in the latest quarter alone. Keep in mind that Amazon consistently lost money for its first several years as a public company.
Fuck law enforcement. Prosecutors only care about their case win rate and the cops care about their case clearance rate. They don't give a single shit whether you actually commit a crime... only whether or not they can convict you.
People chose to buy drugs from the man you're referencing. He isn't out making sales calls. Dealers are people too and they're mostly just trying to survive.
One would think they would plan for their long-term survival, but I feel that the current Board of Directors and C-Suite Execs only care as far as their career horizon.