What the upper tier is afraid of is that the lower tier figures this out. And its happening.
One can only hope we don't get a French Revolution.
With the depth and breadth of corruption it will take something on the order of a guillotine roadshow and a decade to clean it up.
On the other hand, if people bought stout rope, picked out an appropriate branch/lamp post/traffic signal or such, and learned to tie forbidden knots, the cleanup could be quicker.
Enough sarcasm, but only because I despise mob rule. It will take a return to the Rule of Law, not an abandonment of it.