Everything of value is insured. No matter what you buy, you are asked to insure the item. While insurance is meant to relieve you of your concern, the “what if,” the only thing most policies do is take your money.
TV sets usually last longer than you might think. Other things can last 20 years or so. One thing that must be insured is your car. Car thefts in the U.S. are at a number that is eye watering.
A total of 659,880 and counting were stolen in 2025, one every 48 seconds. This number, astounding as it is, has come down from over 1 million stolen cars in 2023-2024.
All this theft has taken a toll on the cost of each item. Petty theft in stores approaches $100 billion per year making the cost of everything we buy rise by 22-30%.
With 30% admitting to at least one petty theft action, using “financial difficulty” as an excuse for their actions, the lack of moral character leads to increased prices.
This enormous loss needs to be put into context. How we fight to control the loss has many seeing fighting back by the authorities as an assault on their rights.
We now hear of Flock cameras. These cameras and their AI software record your license plates, note all your dents and dings, the color of your car, the brand and if you get out of the car in range of the camera it uses recognition software.
All cars are scanned. For those selling drugs, transporting slave labor or the felons on the run, much can be gained by where the cars go, when and at what time, along with calls made, makes law enforcement much better.
Law enforcement is not made easier but cuts the time needed to find the perpetrators. Face recognition software, while something we complain about being used in China, is used in big cities across America.
Many illegal aliens are found, detained, and removed using face recognition software. Industry uses FRS to identify workers, to protect intellectual property and to secure structures.
Without the ability to cut losses, the insurance companies would have rates few could afford. Each stolen car recovered or unrecovered costs the insurance companies on average $7,000.
One can only guess at the insurance costs for retail stores, and as one can see, many put their most stolen merchandise behind locked spaces. This action assumes everyone is either a potential thief or is there to take something.
I notice that those who work in the stores are either disinterested or watch every customer like a hawk. Those who look away look as if “what can we do” is the only remedy. Those who scan each customer are only looking to see if a potential thief is carrying a gun.
There you have it. We have those who live a life of complaining, making accusations of an unaffordable life, pointing at the wrong person. Local conditions determine the cost of everything we use.
If we need to lock up all merchandise, set a guard, buy an insurance policy, the item will cost more. If we have to build a fence around a parking lot with a guard checking everyone coming and going, the cost of owning a car will increase.
The term “you are your own worst enemy” is said for a reason. We are searching for answers, and while no one wants to hear what is offered, there are answers, some good and some not so good.
Petty theft must come with jail time. Repeat offenders need prison sentences. Those brandishing guns need extended sentences.
The other alternative is the method used in Singapore — corporal punishment. Beatings or “canings” are not unknown in many countries and while called primitive by many, do work.
The recidivist rate in Singapore is one of the lowest in the world. El Salvador and its prisons are well known as draconian but have ridden a once criminally infested country to now being one of the safest.
Assault on our morality is just as dangerous as an assault on our person. We are promised safety. If the politicians had spent more time on morality than thinking about how racist the country is, we would be safer and the prices for all things would be much lower.
”I didn’t do anything, I was minding my own business,” makes no sense at 11:30 p.m. by a 13-year-old.
