The drug epinephrine is a drug often used to quell allergic reactions and for many is a lifesaving medication. The price of an epipen is over $650. Insulin is another life saving medication for those with diabetes which was invented in 1921 by Charles H Best, Sir Frederick G Banting, and JJR Macleod. Banting has said that insulin would always be available to anyone who needed it and ensured it would be affordable. In the US insulin is up to 10 times more expensive than it is in the rest of the world. Daraprim is another life saving medication used to treat people with toxoplasmosis. When Turing Pharmaceuticals headed by Martin Shkreli acquired the rights to it the price was increased from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill overnight meaning treatment could cost around $60,000.
These are but a few examples of horrible business practices prioritizing profit over human lives. Nearly every single billionaire today has gotten to where they are through exploitative practices, violations of human rights, unethical foreign labor, financial crimes, or any of the many other deplorable actions made in the name of profit. One example of this is the company Nestle which is widely regarded as one of the most deplorable companies in the world. The cocoa for their chocolate was produced in the Ivory Coast on plantations worked by children who were abducted and illegally trafficked into the country who work without wages, essentially slavery in addition to constant mental and physical abuse of these children. They have also acquired numerous private water reserves which were once public, taking away water which was once free and selling it back to the people they took it from. The CEO has also been on record claiming that access to water is not a basic human right.
All of this on its own is bad enough but the further you go the worse it seems to get. You might assume after all of these crimes people would be punished but this is rarely ever the case. Martin Shkreli who I mentioned previously was tried for financial crimes and convicted yet was only sentenced to 7 years of which he served 6 which is far too low for the crimes he committed. Billionaires and large businesses act as if they are above the law because time after time they have proven that they are as the amount of bribery in the supreme court and the millions pumped into corporate lobbying of the government has made it nearly impossible to punish these people for their crimes.
This open letter is not directed towards the people responsible in an effort to change their minds. It’s childish to assume that someone who has committed such crimes in the past will suddenly have a change of heart in response to an open letter. Since these billionaires have proven time and time again that they will do everything in their power to make as much money as possible regardless of the human cost. This letter is directed to the common people, those affected by the rampant price gouging and monopolization in business. These billionaires believe they will never face the consequences of their actions so take action. Protest, boycott, spread the word of injustice, don’t let their actions go under the radar. The government may not be immediately willing to deal with them so we must make ourselves heard to ensure they will not go unpunished.

Sources:
ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/daraprim-price-hike
business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/nestl%C3%A9-admits-slavery-in-thailand-while-fighting-child-labour-lawsuit-in-ivory-coast/