Posted on 08/18/2023 10:06:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
When crime began to spike during the pandemic , Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made a predictably outrageous claim, as is her wont. “I do think that even when you talk about violent crime, I don’t think that poverty and economic desperation are separate from that,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez and much of the rest of the Left would have us believe our society is no better than the fictional one portrayed in Les Miserables and that all crime is in some way related to that fact.
But the retail thieves who have made shoplifting a profitable business would beg to differ.
Theft rates have exploded in America’s cities over the past few years, forcing many stores to install additional security features to protect merchandise, including locked chains around freezers, and others to shut their doors for good. “Smash and grab” robberies have become so common that the Department of Homeland Security is considering establishing a new unit just to investigate such crimes.
The National Retail Federation estimates shoplifting has increased by 90% since 2018, resulting in more than $94 billion in losses for America’s businesses. Many of the thieves are repeat offenders who know they won’t face any consequences thanks to lax prosecution policies in leftist cities. Many more are a part of organized crime rings that resell stolen items for profit.
In other words, retail theft is rarely a single act of desperation, as the Left likes to suggest. Rather, it is often a coordinated, deliberate decision to violate a business’s rights and break the law. Policymakers and prosecutors’ refusal to recognize this will continue to cost America’s businesses, and consumers, dearly.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM RESTORING AMERICA
24601 a true man of honor.
Les Miserables?
Well, the absurd prosecution of Trump and J6 prisoners reminds me of Inspector Javert, but there Javert was actually enforcing laws against a lawbreaker (however unreasonably), instead of making up crimes.
I do believe poverty causes crime and violence - poverty of culture and spirit.
Yeah, nobody has to steal $300K worth of designer stuff to keep his child from starving. A loaf of bread would do that.
People can even be driven to steal from the tip jar.
That’s what I believe too.
Exactly, they’re just looking for reparations.
So stop doing stuff that crushes opportunity and rewards dependency, horse face.
The crap that’s going on today is NOT a man stealing a loaf of bread to stay alive. These thugs are stealing as part of an established hellhole profession.
They don’t do this crap in red states win red cities.
Nope, this evil is a spin off of democrat pity party/stir the pot... politics. Democrats incentivize evil.
My neighbor, a huge lib, equates the massive shop lifting with Les Mis’ single loaf of bread.
“It’s only stuff”, she says. “It can be replaced”.
The liberal mind (or lack thereof) never ceases to amaze me.
Many Thenardiers out there without a Jean Valjean among them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.