Someone on another website is (rightfully so) complaining that someone stole an $800 generator off of his porch.
I don't know a damned thing about this guy but for sake of argument let's say he's a skilled tradesman of some sort and makes $35/hour. After combined taxes he's lucky to see about $20 an hour.
(Before some tax accountant comes in and points out the IRS doesn't take that much, please note I said combined taxes and it's higher than the IRS number. Besides, this is just a ball park estimate)
He had to bust his ass for 40 hours to be able to buy that generator. For those of you that want to see the math, here it is.
40 hours x $35= $1400. Less taxes of $600= $800.
So it took him 40 hours to earn that generator. When it disappeared so did 40 long hours of the man's life that he spent busting his tail. A week's work.
Needless to say, some people want to shine it on by saying it's only property and can be replaced which in one sense is true but the 40 hours of his life that was stolen with the generator can't be replaced.
The thief that stole the generator took not only a piece of inanimate machinery but 40 hour of the man's life.
Suppose the man walked in on the thieve(s?) and busted a head or two? The usual gang of excuse makers would throw the person that stopped a crime being committed to the wolves and carry on that people should not be beat up over property.
OK, fair enough. Property isn't worth beating someone up for. But what is worth beating someone up for is the part of their life they were trying to steal.
Almost everything we own has been paid for with a part of our lives and when we get ripped off we lose the time we spent earning the money to pay for the property.
People seem to shine on shoplifting with the lame excuse that the company is a large corporation and can afford it are generally too stupid to understand that the corporation doesn't pay for the loss. The consumer (that's YOU) does in the form of higher prices to offset the loss entailed by shoplifting.
Some rough Google figures tell me that shoplifting cost each man, woman and child about $286/year according to a couple quick Google searches. A family of four ponies up about $1145 annually.
I don't know about you but $286 stolen from me means a pretty good weekend that I can't have because it was stolen from me by shoplifters.
Of course, enter the excuse makers that go on and on about how someone had a rough childhood and how it's not fair the corporations do this and that and so on ad nauseum.
If I had my way the poor underprivileged guy's sad life would get a lot sadder. Too damned bad. If your life sucks then change it.
I suppose the best way to show someone is to make them fork over $286 per person in their family in green, cold, hard cash.
"Hey, Mom/Dad of the family of four, give me $1144. See how you like it." That would change a few attitudes and fast.
The moaning, wailing and gnashing of teeth would be epic. "But I need that money for..." Followed by explanations of Junior's tuition or daughter's braces or whatever. In many families it would be the difference between pork chops and Tuna Helper for dinner and in some, simply no dinner whatsoever.
Yet we tolerate this kind of behavior and many make excuses for it when we should be demanding that we do something about it.
As for the guy that stole the $800 generator?
The way I figure it, the thief owes his victim 400 hours of his life, to be paid in the form of hard labor. The original 40 hours it cost the victim to buy the generator and another 360 tacked on to remind him that it really isn't a good idea to steal things.
Hand the thief a sledge hammer and make him break a ten foot piece of granite into driveway gravel for the victim's new driveway.
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