Interesting to think about explanations for declines in crime. Gun violence generally has collapsed, just fallen off the charts, outside of turf wars for drug gangs. As the WSJ puts it,
"Bank holdups have been nearly cut in half over the past decade — to 5.1 robberies per 100 U.S. banks in 2011. Though the nationwide crime rate is dropping, the decline in bank robberies far exceeds the decline in other crimes, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data...Bank-security experts and former FBI agents attribute the decline to stepped-up security and tougher sentencing for bank robbers. Many also say that more recently, sophisticated criminals are recognizing bank robbery as a high-risk, low-reward crime and are migrating online." [WSJ]
As I do think that there is an extra explanation we are missing. Many of the most ruthless criminals were able to sell mortgages to government agencies Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing bubble, so that diverted them from bank robberies. The Fan/Fred combo didn't care about cost, and so it was too easy.
And today thugs can sell subsidized solar panels to religious zealots who worship Gaia and don't care about cost.
Who needs to rob banks, when the government will actually pay you to steal, legally?
Nod to Kevin Lewis for the WSJ piece; I doubt he endorses my interpretation.
"Bank holdups have been nearly cut in half over the past decade — to 5.1 robberies per 100 U.S. banks in 2011. Though the nationwide crime rate is dropping, the decline in bank robberies far exceeds the decline in other crimes, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data...Bank-security experts and former FBI agents attribute the decline to stepped-up security and tougher sentencing for bank robbers. Many also say that more recently, sophisticated criminals are recognizing bank robbery as a high-risk, low-reward crime and are migrating online." [WSJ]
As I do think that there is an extra explanation we are missing. Many of the most ruthless criminals were able to sell mortgages to government agencies Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing bubble, so that diverted them from bank robberies. The Fan/Fred combo didn't care about cost, and so it was too easy.
And today thugs can sell subsidized solar panels to religious zealots who worship Gaia and don't care about cost.
Who needs to rob banks, when the government will actually pay you to steal, legally?
Nod to Kevin Lewis for the WSJ piece; I doubt he endorses my interpretation.
1 comment:
“Bank holdups have been nearly cut in half over the past decade — to 5.1 robberies per 100 U.S. banks in 2011.” -WSJ
Edited slightly:
Taxpayer subsidy holdups have nearly doubled over the past decade — to 100 subsidy robberies per 100 taxpayers.
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