In the time of the "Wild West", a horse thief would be hung. The rational being that if you stole a man's horse, you took away his ability to feed himself.
In this day and age, your credit is the way you feed, clothe, house, and get medical care (just the short list). So why aren't the bastards doing this hung? This is what the politicians need to address.
And for every instance of credit theft, the company that didn't take security seriously should have to pay $10,000. to each of the victims. Forty million customers x $10,000. = a whole lot of incentive to tighten up security.
In those days, to steal a man's horse was tantamount to killing him. To be without a horse in the expanse of the west was to be as good as dead. That's why horse theivery was a hanging offense.
I'd like to see grand theft auto held to a similar standard nowadays.