Deny, Delay, Depose.

It started with a $1,600 stack of denied claims. Suddenly, I couldn’t see a doctor without paying up front. Then came the MRI. The clinic wouldn’t run my insurance until the day of the scan, so I had to pay $2,000 out of pocket to keep my appointment. In America, money is the only fix.

So, yeah—when I heard the CEO of a major healthcare company was murdered, bullet casings engraved with “Deny, Delay, Depose” beside him, my first thought was: That tracks.

Murder is bad, but it’s impossible to ignore the poetic accuracy of targeting a system that profits from human suffering. A system that charges more than any other industrialized nation yet delivers abysmal outcomes for most. Obviously, if you have money, it’s brilliant. Best surgeon for my broken ankle? Doesn’t take insurance. Cash only.

We’ve built an economy where corporate leaders walk away unscathed from the catastrophes they create. Oil executives see the Gulf spill as a PR problem. Remember Boeing!? CEOs of financial firms engineer collapses that destroy livelihoods. Healthcare titans let Americans die while their profits soar. No one pays. No one goes to jail. No consequence. No wonder these corporate leaders are so brazen! I’m a white male, let me get in on that action!

Defiance grows in this consequence-free environment. One imagines the anti-establishment will tire of the outcomes.

But what does power fear most? Not defiance, but escalation.

This is why a small army of cops in tactical gear shows up when someone like Luigi Mangione—fed up—finally snaps. They stand in a rigid show of force, clutching rifles, like Luigi is a terrorist instead of a symptom. They’re not holding him hostage; they’re holding the rest of us hostage. They need to nip this in the bud, because they know what’s coming if they don’t. It’s not just the system they’re protecting; it’s the illusion that it still works.