[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> This isn't a matter of meeting peoples needs

Curious how you reach this conclusion from the point that they do it for money?

> They want money

> It's just a job to them.

That's pretty much exactly how most people meet their needs: do a job for money. That they are stealing things other than what is directly needed is a distraction from the point that they are stealing to meet their needs.

[lazide]

Steal bread to eat it? Meeting needs (directly)

Steal baby formula to sell on the black market? May or may not be meeting needs, but it definitely isn’t direct!

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> May or may not be

Yes, this is my point. It can't be concluded that they are not stealing to meet their needs.

[lazide]

It certainly can be concluded it isn’t for a direct need, which is not ‘stealing bread to feed starving kids’.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> it isn’t for a direct need

Well, right, but that's not what I was refuting.

[lazide]

Stealing to meet abstract secondary needs is criminal for a reason. People don’t sympathize with it because everyone has needs, and if everyone stole to meet them instead of find something more productive to do, society would collapse into anarchy.

So yes, I am refuting what you are saying.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

> So yes, I am refuting what you are saying.

You're not. You acknowledge my point

> Stealing to meet abstract secondary needs

But do not refute that this is the reason for the theft, only argue that it is wrong regardless. My only point is that the theft is "a matter of meeting peoples needs".

> criminal for a reason

I'm not sure of your overall point. Stealing bread to eat is also criminal for the same reasons.