Inflation Makes People Steal Flowerpots

Just last night, a porch pirate visited my parents' house. Here he is, caught in all his midnight masking and baggy clothing glory, stealing a flowerpot with the flowers inside.

As far as I know, the flowers weren't particularly valuable. And yet, apparently it's worth it for these people to steal. This, of course, occurred in California. No surprise there! What is shocking is that this occurred in one of the 25 wealthiest zip codes in the United States.

Theft of this nature has never occurred. Stealing packages or mail is 1 thing - but taking even flowers is new; having lived there for 30+ years, I can attest that this sort of thing just did not happen; porch piracy only got started in recent years.

The question is - why? Why are these people like this? The answer could be that they are degenerates, or poorly raised. That's part of it. A lack of good laws in California is another part. But that doesn't explain the whole story. My suspicion is that inflation is creating an excuse for these people to justify stealing, because people aren't just stealing in California. Nation-wide, in 2022 alone, 79% of Americans have been the victims of package theft - an increase of 15 points over 2021. This is an unprecedented rise in crime by a large number of criminals.

At the same time, inflation is of course at all-time highs (2022 and 2021 together, compared to the 1990's, 2000's, 2010's, etc). This is not a coincidence. Historically, whether Weimar Germany or Argentina, bad economies with rampant inflation lead to high crime. In a self-reinforcing problem, the crime then helps the economy get even worse as people lose confidence in society over all. 

Unfortunately, inflation is not going to stop - it may slow for a bit, but increases in interest rates from the current "high" level are only going to expand the national debt if kept too long, which then will trigger even more inflation as people realize interest rates are unsustainable. Therefore, both the amount of crime and the severity of it is likely to increase in coming years. 

Looks like it's time to reinforce the front door.