Donald Trump fined $10,000 for second gag order violation in civil fraud case
Donald Trump was fined $10,000 on Wednesday after the New York judge overseeing his civil fraud trial said the former U.S. president violated a gag order for a second time.
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When the punishment is a fine, it’s only a crime if you’re poor.
I mean not if the fine fits the crime. A big enough fine can cut the rich even harder than it can the poor. This was not big enough btw.
I think in some Scandinavian country like Finland there are wealth-proportionate fines. So a rich person could get a $30,000 speeding ticket if they’re not careful.
Which is still problematic. If I make a million a year and my fine is 10k, that's less meaningful to them than 300 is to someone who make 30k per year.
I don’t know the exact proportion but it is meant to be painful but not debilitating no matter your degree of wealth. Yes, it’s fundamentally more consequential to lower incomes, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the system we have in the US.
Edit: autocorrect
I agree it's better, but the impact on someone's life should be the same. Otherwise, you disproportionately target the poor.
That’s the entire point of it being wealth-proportionate. To hit everyone hard enough that it hurts without crushing them.
A big enough fine can cut the rich even harder than it can the poor.
I guess, in theory, but I've never seen that happen. And even if you did take more from them, it's only a "deeper cut" in the sense that they fell further to get to broke.
A $10k fine might be more than a poor person's entire net worth, forcing them into homelessness or extreme poverty.
I've never seen a billionaire forced to pay over 100% of their net worth in fines. Hell, I don't think I've ever seen a fine over $1B, except by a corporation.
Billionaires only go broke when they mismanage their own money. Jail time isn't even as big a threat if they are young, as they could well have more money when they come out, where any other Joe Schmo would come out broke and with limited job prospects.
Sure, it's certainly better to be rich than to not be. You're right when you are in the billionaire range it's pretty damn hard to touch that. But trump is a low end billionaire with lots of financial needs. You start cutting hard into his reserves and businesses could start to collapse, debt can accrue and friends start to dissappear. This pos can't keep his mouth shut and this is a major case with consequences for US democracy. 10million for any gag breech and we will start to see some behavior change after a couple mistakes.
Okay, but that's still not a "deeper cut" than the single parent living paycheck to paycheck getting a fine that puts them on the street.
Until fines are proportional to wealth, laws only apply to the poor. The rich can pay for an indulgence.
