[BLKNSLVR]

The fundamental problem, as you've described in 1) and reiterated in your conclusion lays bare a, mostly unspoken, fundamental societal injustice that's common to many countries.

It really feels like protectionism for the status quo. Which is totally understandable and predictable in the context of basic human behaviour and motivations; the king of the hill will not make it easy for anyone to displace them.

What I find interesting, as opposed to surprising as such, is the myriad ways in which politicians explain these situations away in simultaneously calling the slap-on-the-wrist a big deterrent to such behaviour in future, and playing this slap-on-the-wrist as if it's somehow in the interests of the voting population.