3/3/2015 Another San Francisco Smash and grab

"03-28-15: Schubert
If there were enough decent jobs for all paying enough to raise a family problems would be largely gone.Self- righteous comments above are about symptoms not causes."

You may be right, but I think more jobs would only be a partial fix at best. You need to look at all the different reasons people steal: Drug addicts, gangs, people with background issues and other related activities. If you offered people like this jobs, even if the pay was noticeably higher, do you really think they would take them? I'm sure a few would, but for the most part, I believe most wouldn't. And even if they did, would they even be competent enough to do the job and not get fired? Again, maybe a few would.

Tomcy66 - you hit the nail on the middle class erroding head - the breakdown of the family unit! Everyone is looking for a hand...everyone has epectations for 'entitlements'. I grew up poor and when things were relaly bad, we didn't rob.

Pants Up! Don't Loot!

I could make some rough guesses, but it would be fun to know the distribution of political orientations here. :0

John

Zd542, nothing personal but you simply, for whatever reason, lack the vision to see beyond the static reality you see before you which gives you a distorted image of human nature.
Decent jobs for all would not be an instant cure but it would be a sure one.

"03-29-15: Schubert
Zd542, nothing personal but you simply, for whatever reason, lack the vision to see beyond the static reality you see before you which gives you a distorted image of human nature.
Decent jobs for all would not be an instant cure but it would be a sure one."

The only reason my image is distorted is because I don't agree with you. People commit crimes for many reasons. Most of them have nothing to do with being able to get a job. I understand that the economy isn't perfect right now, but there's still more opportunity here in the US than most other places. If you look at the problem objectively, its clear that the poor, criminal or not, don't maximize their opportunities to get ahead. As a society, we just enable the behaviour. There's no better example of what I'm talking about than that TV show Intervention. Every single time they get people to stop what they are doing and go get help, its all done the exact same way. They put people in a position where their behaviour won't be supported any more. Left with no other choice, it forces people to go into rehab. It only works about half the time, but its far more effective than any other solution.

You can't just give things away to people and hope that fixes a problem, even if its a job. The only way a person is going to be successful at any profession is if they want it for themselves. It doesn't matter how much you or I want someone else to succeed. The person that need a job has to want a job. Otherwise you're just pissing in the wind.