Yes, the owner does important work, but that work should not give them the right to all the profits produced by the business. Taxes are not a solution to the structural inequality created by private ownership of the means of production, they are a bandaid that alleviates some of the worst consequences. The only way to resolve the structural inequality is for the means of production to be collectively owned by all of the workers who use it, and for business decisions to be made democratically by said workers or by a person elected democratically by the workers (who should themselves be an equal owner of the means of production).

The intent isn’t necessarily predatory.

Proceeds to describe an extremely predatory business practice and the corrupt incentives that motivate it.

This is why class politics is incomplete without an understanding of hierarchy. People within a hierarchy will try to pass accountability up the chain, and it stops at the first person capable of deflecting it down. The more egregious the offense the higher up the chain it goes so the ones at the upper levels make sure the hierarchy is as tall as possible so that accountability never reaches the top. Your manager is the next rung up the hierarchy from you and most offenses are minor enough for them to deflect it. Sometimes the bureaucracy enables the accountability to be spread across so many hands that it fizzles out, and sometimes someone has to take the fall.

I dislike the Star Wars franchise in general but I loved Andor. Not sure it being a part of the franchise did it too much of a disservice though, I discovered it the way I discover most media (through word of mouth).

It’s based on which shows the companies that paid them to advertise own the rights to.

https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/

This only holds true when you use the metrics that wealthy people use to know how well the economy is doing for them. For the vast majority of people the economic situation has been worsening for decades.