The cost of living crisis has driven up corporate profits, as companies raise prices to increase their profit margins.
Unsurprisingly, the fact that many people can’t afford to feed their families and heat their homes anymore has led to an increase in shoplifting.
The Co-op said on Monday that it had recorded 300,000 incidents of shoplifting, abuse, violence, and anti-social behaviour in its chain of shops so far this year. That’s a 40 percent increase compared with the same period in 2022.
In the majority of the 3,000 most serious cases, it said the police failed to attend when requested.
The government response to this has been predictable. The state has promised to implement tougher sentences for assaults against shop workers.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “It is completely unacceptable to threaten or assault shop workers. We have recently put aggravated sentences for assaults on shop workers into law, showing that these crimes will not be tolerated.”
Such tough on crime stances are usually based in the moralistic beliefs held by the right, which see crime as the result of bad people doing bad things. The bad people, who they believe will always exist, need to be punished to restore order.
For those of us living in the real world, however, the answer to crimes that result from poverty is to eliminate poverty.
We need price controls on essential foods, rent controls, guaranteed well paid work, and guaranteed housing and food for those unable to work.
There are more than enough resources to go around. The decisions that leave some people in poverty result from society being structured and run for private profits. We need a transition to socialism.
In the meantime, expect to see staff at Tesco, Aldi, and Lidl wearing body cameras, and poor people continuing to steal food.
