[mandmandam]

You've hit the nail on the head repeatedly there.

Regulators, and checks and balances of all kinds, have been systematically dismantled and de-fanged. People literally can't fathom the full scale of the power disparities.

Still, trust in authority is at a record low - if not yet low enough! You're 100% right that this is a structural problem. It's too easy for bad actors to not only avoid accountability but to even get the crowd blaming the wrong people.