What If Crime Does Pay? (record, work, money, state)

[WildKarrde]

This thread is based on some of the stuff I've heard while sitting in the unemployment office waiting for various appointments. With the majority of jobs available paying minimum wage or only slightly more, and hundreds upon hundreds of people with varying degrees applying for these jobs... how long is it going to be before the majority of the unemployed give up and turn to a life of crime?

Just curious what others think on the subject. I strongly fear for the future of this country and its citizens.

[car54]

Absolutely, crime DOES pay. Just ask the folks on Wall Street...and their servants in Congress.

[WildKarrde]

Good point... wasn't even thinking of that when I posed this question. Some of those people deserve to die for the amount of money they have robbed from the next three or more generations of Americans.

Selling marijuana is like telling a white lie when your wife asks if she looks too fat by comparison.

[Ariadne22]

It's a sad day in America when so many lose hope. I have heard this conjecture on people eventually resorting to crime for a quite a while now. I see in today's paper, domestic abuse cases have risen. This is just the beginning.

"It appears to be tied to the economy,"

Domestic violence killings reach record high in state - JSOnline

Wall Street banksters should be in jail, all their money and assets confiscated wherever they may be. But, it will never happen.

[RedJacket]

I don't think people are going to start committing crimes in mass, but if things don't change in Washington, then there will be a day of reckoning.

You can't keep stepping on the little guy w/o the little guy eventually fighting back. I'm not sure what the breaking point is going to be, but when it happens, Washington will certainly be the target of people's anger.

Neither the Democrats or the Republicans are the answer. They're both part of the problem. They can't be fixed because for too many yrs they've been bought and paid for.

This country needs a third party in the worse way. I'd not be at all surprised to see that happen in 2012. We need someone to take over that won't always lie to us. Someone who has our interest in mind and not the lobbyists who own them.

Politicians love to see us divided, because divided we fall, united we stand. We'll never take our country back until we all realize we're in this together.

It's us against them.

[texdav]

Bascailly the last elction shows that some will believe anyhting they are told.there is not going to be any problems because too mnay rememebr the results of the rioats in the 60's and who really suffered form teh results. The very people who rioted and their neighbors.

[tijlover]

For crime to truly pay off, you first need a college degree, as a college degree is nothing more than a license to steal.

What stuns, shocks me everyday, is why isn't the crime rate sky high already?
To me, it's downright spooky!

This recession may not equal the Great Depression, but back then there was kidnappings of the rich. Have you heard of just one kidnapping of the rich during the past three years? Spooky, huh?

I live in a city with an unemployment rate now exceeding Detroit, and why isn't it happening? Come home from work, my house hasn't been burglarized at least once a month? I haven't been carjacked? I haven't been mugged once in the last three years?

And, you see the massive protests across Europe this week, and? Again, how spooky, as we have more to protest than they do! Good grief, they're protesting in France because they want to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62?

In fact, rather than spooky, I'll call it downright scarey! Is this the Home of the Brave, or Home of the Coward?????

[Ariadne22]

Things aren't bad enough, yet. As the ranks of the 99ers increase, so will the unrest. Americans do not have the cradle to grave sense of entitlement of the Europeans, so do not believe they should be crying about these hard times. Instead, for the most part, the unemployed are feeling guilty, as though it is somehow their fault and their failure. Plus, for now, most people are still somewhat comfortable - and hopeful.

Future should be interesting.

[Jesse69]

When the economy went bad in 2008 I started seeing a lot of crime in Houston. Apt robberies and car thefts. They hit some cars and Apts in my gated complex.

[Magnolia Bloom]

Our children are learning from our examples as we weather this difficult time. Our country was built on hard work and determination. Crime isn't the answer and either is the increasing division, the polarization that is taking place between the left and right. We need to pull it together personally and as a country, in small ways and large.

My GD has a friend whose step father was just arrested for trafficking in marijuana. In addition to the legal challenges that he now faces, his step children will forever be affected by the incident. They witnessed his arrest in their home. Their neighbors witnessed it from the street. Imagine having to go to school the next day after such an incident. Imagine what these kids are going through and how it will be with them for the rest of their lives.

So many folks are just trying to get by the best that they can. But to choose to carry out a criminal act without considering the consequences to your loved ones is short sighted. They are watching and learning from the actions that we take in the face of our adversity.

"Circumstances don't make a man, they reveal him." Not sure who said that, but it is so true. Doing what is wrong is wrong whether someone else knows about it or not. If we can instill that in our children by word and action, especially when times are tough, we will be alright as a country.