[familyop]

"Interesting, so what set this looting off?"

That's a great question. I wonder if any of us have signed up for the WSJ "professional edition" and are able to read the rest of the article?

In most cases during or after government defaults, layoffs of higher income government employees, cuts in funding for government-linked businesses, cuts in pensions, etc., tend to precede such riots. Some people aren't accustomed to real work (e.g., technical, manufacturing,...), can't do anything real for themselves and throw tantrums when no longer among the elite.

[GeronL]

Always very organized.

The socialist government hasn’t explained it to the masses yet they have to live with less? Less prosperity, less freedom, less food, less everything?

Sooner or later the socialist-communists have to get around to that point. Where the “safety net” becomes the ONLY income and it gets smaller and smaller. Soon they won’t need to worry about looted supermarkets and stolen luxury goods because there won’t be any.

Then they will all live in glorious noble utopian squalor, while the leaders of the country will be rich and powerful beyond measure.