The laziest revolution is dancing on graves

When the news first broke, I was appalled three times after hearing about the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. First, that this man was gunned down in the streets and his killer was at large. Second, when I learned that UnitedHealthcare rejects 33% of its claims, over five times that of competitors like Kaiser Permanente, which has a 6% claims rejection rate. Lastly, what shocked me most was seeing some people in a comedy Facebook group I’m in celebrating his death. One post featured a meme saying, “I hope he dies,” in response to news that he was shot.

I get it, late-stage capitalism is brutal and unfeeling. The instinct to not care about those who seem to care so little for us is understandable. But here’s where the irony hits me: The people dancing on Thompson’s grave are vilifying someone for doing the very job our system incentivized him to do. CEOs of public companies are hired to maximize profits, not to act as moral arbiters. Would I like to see more ethically-driven leadership? Absolutely. But I’d wager that some of those grave dancers would reject just as many claims if it meant trading bank accounts with Thompson.

That’s the laziness of this so-called revolution. The same people electing the same congresspeople who do nothing to fix our broken healthcare system are directing their rage at a single individual for being a disappointing product of the systems we voted for.

A rigged system, or a reflection of us?

Day after day, I hear complaints about the rigged system of the stock market. And let me be clear: I don’t disagree. The deck is often stacked against retail investors. But the complaints often miss a critical point: Finance is the highest-stakes game in the world. Do we complain about the inequalities of flying coach while others enjoy first class? Why, then, do we lament trades transported in different routing classes?

Here’s what’s more frustrating: Many of these same critics entrust their money to brokers who openly prioritize hedge funds—their real customers—over retail traders. Remember the trading halts during the meme stock frenzy? That’s the price of free trades.

For the past 14 years, I’ve dedicated myself to creating tools that level the playing field for retail investors. Tools that are transparent, data-driven, and free. These tools rely on live options markets to work. You know what undermines this transparency? The push for 24-hour trading. While it may sound futuristic, it primarily benefits institutional players, whose algorithms thrive in low-liquidity environments. These systems don’t sleep, they’re robots designed to manipulate prices during hours when there’s less liquidity, making price discovery harder for everyone else. At the end of the day, this push isn’t about empowering retail investors, it’s about maximizing control for those already at the top.

Pick up your shovel

I taught myself accounting as a teenager to land my first hedge fund job. I’ve spent years building a platform designed to empower everyday people. At times, I’ve had no money in my bank account and had to move back in with my parents. If you want change, real change, it starts with effort, not excuses.

Voting in leaders who care about healthcare reform is a start. Refusing to give your dollars and attention to companies that exploit you is another. But let’s stop pretending that cynicism and complaining are substitutes for action.

The death of Brian Thompson is not a revolution, even if you think his sons deserve to lose their father. And perhaps even if more billionaires deserve to die, that is not going to solve the systemic problems that will just replace those billionaires with other billionaires. Real change requires picking up your shovel and holding your elected officials accountable—not dancing on graves.

A final thought

If we truly want to revolutionize our systems, it starts with us—our choices, our votes, and our willingness to confront uncomfortable truths and come up with ideas that actually fix them. Until then, the lazy revolution will remain just that: lazy.

George Kailas is CEO at Prospero.Ai.

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