Yes, it is a small-scale model for what goes on at a macro level.
With pickpockets, you merely lose what’s in your wallet at the moment. Cash - $100, $200... poof. Can limit it to that if you stop the credit cards.
But, at the macro level, you lose 50%, 70% with the ilk of AOC, or higher, of your year-to-year earnings. Maybe soon to your wealth.
And they do it legally!