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I experienced an incident last year in Camden NJ that I have related before on another thread here at FR. It seems appropriate now in the context of "The Sanction of the Victim" discussion.

I own a small manufacturing company which was located in Camden NJ. We have been plagued by graffiti on our building painted there by the local gang bangers. It is a growing problem in Camden. I've repainted my building two times but after each repaint the boys go artistic once again. I finally gave up because the police would not do anything about it and business is bad and I could no longer afford it.

Enter the City government. The City passed an ordinance to require companies occupying graffiti stained buildings to clean it up at their own expense. I was visited by an armed inspector and issued a ticket to paint my building. I went to city hall and talked to the director and tried to explain to her that without proper police enforcement the only result would be a waste of money on my part and the graffiti would return. She just said the laws the law and they were cracking down in an attempt to clean up the city. Cracking down on the businesses not the punks doing it one should note.I refused again and was issued a second ticket for non compliance with the first order.

Now it just so happens that the mercantile license was coming due ( talk about looters having the power over a productive enterprise! ). Well, the city refused to issue my company the license unless I painted my building. I refused again. This time the armed inspector came back with a "suit' who explained to me that if my license were to expire they would close my building and not allow me to operate. I decided that it wasn't worth the expense and signed an agreement to paint my building and was issued my license. Going out the door after my capitulation the head honcho woman said to me,"Now don't you feel better that you are contributing to the clean up of Camden". True story.

I fired the three neighborhood kids working part time, took my skilled people and moved the business out of Camden last fall. The building is empty and covered with graffiti.

I fired the three neighborhood kids working part time, took my skilled people and moved the business out of Camden last fall. The building is empty and covered with graffiti.

A round of applause for you, Sir. _You_ are John Galt !

Good for you!

I grew up just outside of Camden, so I know what you're talking about. I left in 1971, but when I took a look at the city in 2005 I was horrified. Nothing was the way I remembered it.

You should have moved out after the lady said, "The law is the law."

Good for you. Thousands of Atlas’s are beginning to shrug.