Some Theft (Chicago smash and grabs) is worse than others in the Neo-Feudal United States

It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Chapter V

The current freak out over the smash-and-grab thefts at high end retail stores ivo Chicago and out in California highlight the Corporate Media's obsession with a very small segment of thefts in the United States.

Retail theft isn't the biggest loss of money going around but, it's in the open and strikes right at White society's fears and prejudices.  Normie society sees those people getting away with it and get all indignant and righteously aggrieved!

Meanwhile, no one in the Corporate media is thinking ahead.  After the thieves who strike malls in Oak Brook or Northbrook and swipe dozens of Louie Vutton bags; what do they do with them?  No one is selling them at half off on Mag Mile.  No one is setting up hidden shops in their home to sell them to other poor people.  

No, it's part of a sophisticated Organized Crime ring; most likely involving smuggling, drugs, and according to the Illinois Attorney General's Office human trafficking.  The black thieves grabbing the merchandise and running are low-level criminals.  Who's funding their operations?  Who's the "fence" to use an antiquated term?  Where's the merchandise going?

But, the scope of such criminal enterprises are too massive for most people to take in and the difficult task of consuming pages of data and require too much detailed report analysis.  Humans evolved to think in much simpler terms one or more than one.  It's why most old languages have distinct terms for 1or 2 but, required work to come up with greater numbers and often resorted to vague terms beyond counting for really big numbers.

It's why one death is a tragedy and a million is just a statistic.

Of course, besides the sensationalist media coverage o these dramatic grab-n-go thefts is the lack of coverage of theft which impacts a vast number of Americans and dwarfs the money lost from retail theft; i.e. Wage Theft. 

For example, out in California a restauranteur Golden Gate group swindled low-pay Burger King employees out of $2 million in wages from 2016 to 2019.

Wage theft is often invisible to normie society though.  And, of course, bad actors on the right fully endorse a wage slave society with a permanent underclass paid subsistence wages.

Then Covid-19 hit and a large segment of the working class decided working 3 jobs at minimum wage to simply pay the rent and phone bill wasn't worth it anymore.  The Great Resignation struck directly at the US wage slavery system and perpetual corporate bondage.

Now, of course, Faux News and the Corporate Media's job is to advance the rightwing agenda of oppression, intolerance, and adulation of the rich so they've adopted a Blame Biden, freakout over Kamala's cookware, and Inflation fear monger to distract their rightwing drones from the reality of the American economic system; it's designed to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable.

Will President Joe Biden and the Democrats get the credit they deserve for the help they've passed through the recalcitrant Republican opposition?  I don't know.  I know conservative bad actors consistently try to blame everything on the Democrats and the Corporate Media eagerly regurgitate rightwing agitprop, but all I can ask of the President, VP, Speaker, and Democrats in the Senate and House is they try and that they have and continue too. 

The Great Resignation vs. The Amazon Edwardsville Disaster (Update)

“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.” - the wages of American Capitalism are death...

It's been 110 years since the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory disaster.  After revising initial fears of hundreds of trapped employees it appears the Edwardsville Amazon disaster will thankfully not reach that level of tragedy.  Of course, this is scant comfort to the families of the 6 thus far confirmed killed.

I know everyone loves Amazon but, it certainly seems like Jeff Bezos' new fangled Fulfillment Wage Slavery is just a retread of the old 19th century sweatshop variety.  Hopefully Jeff Bezos can eventually get around to addressing the families of his dead employees, whom he so recently thanked, instead of wistfully staring off into space.

Unbelievable. Amazon unable to account for Employees trapped inside.  Employees denied cell phones to ensure they don't take 5 minutes out of their time fulfilling orders to waste scrolling twitter or Facebook. Did Amazon have a nice carve-out on building regulations which allow their "warehouse" to be regulated under different building codes and safety regulations (h/t Naked Capitalism) than an office buildings or retail space?

Walls on both sides of the building collapsed inward and the roof fell down. Officials say the concrete walls were 40 feet tall and about the length of a football field.

Now Republicans hate Bezos because he doesn't do what Rich people are supposed to do; i.e. aid the Republicans in enforcing oppression and intolerance.  However, Bezos does believe in enshackling the American People into perpetual, unending Corporate Bondage so that is a saving grace for Amazon.

I don't know what the future of work for Amazon or in general will look like nor the fate of cities.  But, the Great Resignation coupled with the abandonment of office work looks to entail a massive restructuring of American work life.  Would it be on par with the Industrialization and the creation of metropolis?  Or the near doubling of the workforce post-World War 2 with women entering the workplace en masse?  I don't know and I don't think anyone else does.

Updated:

"I can hire half the working class to kill the other half, " low level warehouse managers were instructed to threaten workers with being fired if they left their jobs during the deadly tornadoes.  Company owners defend themselves by saying company policy is to not let workers leave during a tornado.  Of course, it is not company policy to have a hardened tornado shelter at their facilities because "human capital" is easily replaced.