THe Price of Oil and the Rise in Crime

[bluelinebill]

Crime is going to increase and heres why.

It’s not just a matter of the price of gas.
Some days ago I read a blog where the writer was saying that people should just get used to the higher price of oil. So what if it cost’s $25.00 dollars more to go see grandma.

I believe a lot of people are missing the point about how deeply the price of oil is going to change our lives.
Gasoline is only a small portion of what petroleum is used for.
There is nothing that you use as a rule that is not connected with oil. From the food that you buy to the medicine you get at the pharmacy. Every modern thing we as Americans have taken for granted is based on petroleum.

As the price of Oil increases so will the cost of not only transportation of items made with oil but the price of manufacturing these items. Items such as paint, glue, solvents, chemicals, plastic, rubber, fertilizer, and bug spray, as example.
If it is part of our everyday life in the United States it’s based on oil.
With the cost of everything going up so will crime.

Get ready folks we are all in for a wild time.

[bluelinebill]

Well
On Thursday May the 29th ABC news reported that Dow Chem is raising its prices on everything. Due to the cost of oil. The report stated that the price of all goods would go up.

[crimedawg]

AND... the prices have been. There is a direct correlation between high petrol prices and crime -- because the impoverished become more desperate. Even those who felt solidly middle class suddenly find themselves on the fringes, hanging on by a thread. Those who were precipitously teetering above the poverty line suddenly find themselves looking for a second job -- or at the food bank -- or making special assistance requests to the United Way for help paying their electric bills. Despite the bad rap UW Carolinas has right now (and it is COMPLETELY deserved), they provide essential dollars that often help people in need find that "bridge" or "angel" financing to help make a few loose ends meet.

That is CERTAINLY better than the inescapable debt-spiral one finds with things such as "payday loans," which for $100 to keep the lights on, oftentimes costs people thousands of dollars in interest. Unfortunately, it is this demographic (white and black and hispanic) are generally of limited financial acumen or sophistication -- and they are preyed upon quickly. Sadly I believe that such financial exigencies caused by predatory lending practices such as these (and car title loans, etc) are exacerbated by such; moreover, the further perpetuation of financial crises due to predatory lending only increases the likelihood of petty crime, etc. Maybe that's just me...

Similarly, it is the aforementioned lack of financial sophistication that causes people to NOT think about nor plan for financial crises that loom on the horizon. Hence that oft-mentioned statstic that 80% of people on welfare have cable! I think that is a funny one -- two years ago when my company's future was in doubt, sales were down (and as a senior sales manager my commissions were, too)... I found myself really scrimping. What was the VERY first thing I did? I called TW Cable, and canceled my cable (kept the road runner, though). Then I immediately began brown-bagging my lunch -- fast food and cheap takeout costs REALLY add up. Next to go was shirt laundry -- instead of sending all of my dress shirts out to the cleaners, I busted out "ole betty," my trusty iron and began practicing an old skill. Just like riding a bicycle! All things my parents taught me. A lot of times, however, it's just that: children, young adults and people of all ages MIMIC that which they saw from their parents! Logically, then, one can assume (and I used to see this all the time when I lived in University Area) what children saw was parents using their food-stamps benefit cards for food, separating that from the fortified wine and beer, then paying cash for that! I cannot relate HOW many times I have witnessed that. Why on God's green earth do you even QUALIFY for food stamps if you can spend double that benefit, in cash, on bottles of Wild Irish Rose and cases of heineken

That will always befuddle me. Hopefully that can be reformed.....
Enough of my rant for now though.