Palm Beach has hit billionaire financier Nelson Peltz and his wife, Claudia, with a daily fine [of $250] because officials say the couple built a padel court on their expansive estate without the town’s approval.
Very common billionaire behavior, as this blog has noted. When a culture produces billionaires, it produces people for whom rules and regulations mean jackshit. They’re perfectly happy to pay $250 daily for the rest of their lives in order to protect their belligerence.
December 4th, 2025 at 1:09PM
That’s an old price theory question, the way I remember it posed it’s somebody littering a beach in front of a notice reading “$25 fine for littering” with the followup being “did the litterer just pay $25 for the right to litter the beach?”
December 5th, 2025 at 4:55AM
Stephen: Yes. Same remarkable motive – wanton, viciously explicit, contempt for civil life.
December 5th, 2025 at 11:14AM
The question can prompt all sorts of extensions in discussion, including but not limited to the challenges of creating property rights or the political economy of fines based on ability to pay, in the manner of Finland’s speeding tickets.
Enjoy the Austen session.