It is not strange to hear about cars, jewelry or money being stolen. These days, desperate thieves are choosing bizarre targets: copper wires, air conditioning units, storm drain covers, grapes, ambulances, pain killers and even bees. This petty thievery of agricultural goods and odd supplies is the new norm in a rapidly worsening economy where unemployment is rampant.A sagging economy and high beef prices have stock thefts on the rise. Thefts are on the rise from the Beef Belt in Texas and Oklahoma to other beef producing states in the Midwest and South. These modern rustlers won't fit the typical Hollywood image of mounted desperados wearing 10-gallon hats with bandannas covering their faces, said Billy Powell, executive vice president of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association.
It seems that more and more Americans are becoming desperate enough to steal scrap metal in order to survive this economy. With staggering unemployment figures at an all-time high; home foreclosures in the millions, and with little hope of ever achieving that “American Dream”, stealing scrap metal here and there to put food on their tables may be the only option left for some Americans. The downturn in the economy and record unemployment numbers have created a heightened sense of desperation, which subsequently is leading to a rapid increase in crime levels all over the country. Read more....
Most of the crime you cite is committed by drug addicts to get money for drugs. They do this when the economy is booming but it doesn't make as inciteful headline as it does when the economy is bad. Good people don't rob 7-11's or strip copper wire of telephone poles even in bad times. These are the same old dregs of society doing the same criminal acts they always do.
ReplyDeleteMost addicts, mind you, sit on their couches after work drinking beer, if not seek their closest friend or neighbors and share pills or marijuana. At this point at least half of Americans (16+) are addicted to some type of mind altering drug.
ReplyDeleteEvery single college student you see at parties chugging beer from bongs are addicts. It's a wonder why they are even in school. But that's also the typical college student.
Moms never drowned their babies in the 1950s, nor did 14 year olds go around hanging themselves or stabbing their friends. And believe it or not, little kids were relatively safe to stay home alone in the 1980s.
Things are so bad today, people like you sound like you spend your life on facebook unaware of real conditions. Everything is the same exact way huh?
So only drug addicts kill, steal, or do bad things? Okay...