Theft is an Economic Failing

            We're all used to it by now in the US. You walk into a Wal-Mart or a mall, and one of the first things you see is some guy in a security vest lined with 50 pockets containing walkie talkies and tasers, maybe even a gun if it's Texas, looking all self-important. Maybe they even extend out into the urban streets, their eyes peeled for people with clothes even the slightest bit wrinkled.

            Because we're so used to it, we don't even bat an eye at it. But if you're from, say, Canada, and you come to visit for a convention, you're completely thrown off by security guards patrolling the streets. It might as well be Nazi Germany. 

            Funny thing, that's because it's completely unnecessary. And let me spell out why.

            So, what's the main thing one thinks these wannabe cops (or even actual cops in some settings, christ alive WalMart you ain't that special) are preventing? Well, theft. Companies in particular are scared shitless of the idea that every once in a while someone will walk out the door with a couple candy bars they didn't pay $5 for. The audacity!

            Of course I know that theft of much more expensive things is the real """issue""". Going back to the example of WalMart, they do sell pretty expensive stuff, mostly in the form of electronics. But why do people steal electronics?

            Two main reasons come to mind- To sell them off on the black market, or because they think they could never afford it otherwise. Here's the thing though. In a healthy economy, where everyone has proper prospects of decent income or at the very least a livable wage job, NEITHER of these issues would exist. 

            If people could simply have a good shot at a decent job with a livable wage, while having the opportunity to grow that wage into disposable income, they would feel like they could at least eventually afford the cool new Playstation, and they wouldn't feel the need to deviate to a life of crime selling shit on the black market.

            Now I know there are some caveats. There's always gonna be someone who doesn't want to even bother trying, or doesn't want to wait (the latter being another whole societal thing but I wanna at least try to stay on topic, maybe some other time), but I promise you those are so few and far between that, in a perfect world, they would be very easily spotted and stopped due simply to how infrequent theft would be.

            So what's to be done? Well, think about how much security costs. So much manpower, all the gadgets, all the cameras. Could we not divert those literal millions into, like. Hiring people? Paying existing workers more? Overspending on security exists solely due to rich idiots thinking that homelessness is a personal failing and not literally the fault of the same people throwing money at rent-a-cops, but realizing that would require having any sort of humanity left in them, and to be perfectly honest, that is highly unlikely. I guess when we eat the rich, we should see if we can't sell the security systems for parts.