[seanmcdirmid]

> I think you might have it backwards. Petty theft doesn’t cause systems collapse - it’s the result of systems collapse.

It is probably a positive feedback loop: some system collapse causes some petty theft, which causes more system collapse, which causes more petty theft...

> hat these crimes might be increasing (stats that prove that and aren’t junk are “hard to come by”) is evidence not of the theives not holding up their end of the social contract - but of employers, businesses, and governments not holding their end up.

Why not both? Much of the shoplifting in my area is for drug money (at least the blatant kind you get to see up front). Now, one could claim employers are wrong for not letting someone addicted to fent work, but maybe not. Definitely how they got to that point is some fault of society, however.