All street crime committed against property in the US costs about $17 billion per year.
Yet. many other things are far more costly.
Take the war in Iraq, projected to cost more than $3 trillion.
And the war in Afghanistan, costing perhaps even more, is now set to end.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26346115
And for what?
I mean, what, exactly, has been accompished?
You are I, as taxpayers, have paid for this. Just as we pay for street crime.
Showing posts with label street crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label street crime. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Crime, crime, crime in the news
As usual, stories of crime dominate the news. Here are but a few examples from today, stories that focus on crime, guns, violence, or criminal justice:
Town may vote to shoot down drones
Drones beware: Hunters take aim
Police: Slain student fought with officer
Cop: Student hit officer with baton
Did bride push husband off cliff?
Report: NSA spying on gamers
Zimmerman's girlfriend wants him free
Cops: Teens let friend drive drunk
Town may vote to shoot down drones
Drones beware: Hunters take aim
Police: Slain student fought with officer
Cop: Student hit officer with baton
Did bride push husband off cliff?
Report: NSA spying on gamers
Zimmerman's girlfriend wants him free
Cops: Teens let friend drive drunk
As it turns out today, about one-half of the lead stories are about crime and criminal justice. Just another normal day in crime-obsessed America.
Hey, did you know street crime is at near record lows?
And that white-collar and corporate crime is so widespread that it threatens to cripple our economy about every five years?
Yet stories about street crime dominate the news and white-collar and corporate crime are ignored?
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Life is crazy over at CNN
Just look at the stories they are promoting today as TOP STORIES!
And these are their front page videos!
- School bans balls at recess. Really?
- Glitches could kill Obamacare Time
- Blind man beaten on city street
- Robber grabs drive-thru worker
- Cardless ATMs: Cash by phone
- Moto X the best Android phone
- Frat letter: Don't rape them, but ...
- MMA fighter quits, jumps out of cage
- John Cena twerks for good cause
- NFL teams guaranteed to lose
- How's life without Ziva on 'NCIS'? EW
- Is 'Anchorman' now car salesman?
And these are their front page videos!
And you wonder why polls reveal Americans don't know much about the world in which they live.
Did you notice all the crime stories, by the way? Assault, robbery, rape .... and not a single story about corporate crime or elite deviance.
Friday, September 13, 2013
In today's random crime and violence stories ...
... we see these gems in the mainstream news:
4 found dead in car on rural road
13-year-old girl bitten by shark
Synthetic drugs' scary reality
Teens zap kitty in microwave, post it
Man plotted to eat kids, feds say
Cops: Home had child-size coffin
Students flee district after teachers defend molester
You wonder what the point of these stories is, don't you?
I mean, what do you gain by knowing that these things occurred, especially if they occurred nowhere near you or your town.
Is the point simply to scare the heck out of you? To divert your attention away from other, far more serious issues and harms?
What do you think?
4 found dead in car on rural road
13-year-old girl bitten by shark
Synthetic drugs' scary reality
Teens zap kitty in microwave, post it
Man plotted to eat kids, feds say
Cops: Home had child-size coffin
Students flee district after teachers defend molester
You wonder what the point of these stories is, don't you?
I mean, what do you gain by knowing that these things occurred, especially if they occurred nowhere near you or your town.
Is the point simply to scare the heck out of you? To divert your attention away from other, far more serious issues and harms?
What do you think?
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| Please tell me you're not letting your kids watch this nonsense |
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
On the debasing coverage of street crime
I have finally figured it out ... how to express it.
The mainstream media's coverage of street crime debases us. It degrades us. It diminishes us.
Take this LEAD story from CNN:
Not to be outdone, this is also the LEAD story on Fox:
I ask, why is this news?
Who cares? Why should we care?
Of this I am convinced: Our focus on this kind of "news" is dangerous. It is bad for our health.
And it literally kills us.
It is stressful.
More importantly, it distorts our understanding of what crime is. It creates misconceptions of what is harmful and what is not, which allows very powerful people to continue to harm us with literally no consequences.
The mainstream media's coverage of street crime debases us. It degrades us. It diminishes us.
Take this LEAD story from CNN:
BREAKING NEWS
Ohio kidnapper held 3 women for nearly 10 years
Ariel Castro, who was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years on charges of
kidnap, rape and murder, was found dead, hanging from a bedsheet in his
Ohio prison cell late Tuesday.
FULL STORY
Not to be outdone, this is also the LEAD story on Fox:
Ariel Castro, Kidnapper Who Held 3 Women Captive, Found Hanged in Cell
- Ariel Castro, who was sentenced to life without parole for holding three women captive in his home for nearly a decade, commits suicide at a state prison facility, Ohio corrections officials say.
- VIDEO: Castro Found Hanged in Cell
- VIDEO FLASHBACK: Judge Sentences Ariel Castro to Life Without Parole
- VIDEO FLASHBACK: Cleveland Kidnapping Victims Break Silence in Video
- VIDEO FLASHBACK: Castro's House of Horrors Torn Down
AP/Cuyahoga County JailI ask, why is this news?
Who cares? Why should we care?
Of this I am convinced: Our focus on this kind of "news" is dangerous. It is bad for our health.
And it literally kills us.
It is stressful.
More importantly, it distorts our understanding of what crime is. It creates misconceptions of what is harmful and what is not, which allows very powerful people to continue to harm us with literally no consequences.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Basic math. Which is bigger? $20 billion or $7.777 trillion?
So everyday you hear about street crime. It is clearly in the news. Everyday.
But rarely do you see this kind of story in the news, especially the mainstream news.
The Federal Reserve was FORCED to reveal this to us--it loaned $7.77 trillion in below-market dollars to rescuing the financial system, and these nearly interest-free loans came without strings attached.
So how many years worth of street crime does $7.77 trillion worth? At about $20 billion per year in direct losses to street crime, this one deal cost us something like 388 years worth of street crime.
And yet, this is NOT the main story in the corporate news.
This is relevant to the issues in the book of who makes the law, who funds the law, and why it matters.
We are' simply stated, a nation obsessed with street crime. Simultaneously, we ignore white-collar and corporate crime, even though it costs us so much more every year than street crime.
Ellen Brown, Truthout | News Analysis
Monday, February 14, 2011
Kill 3 or 4 people, make the news
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/13/virginia.triple.homicide/index.html?hpt=T2
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/02/14/new.york.stabbing/index.html?hpt=T2
Meanwhile, there are lots of ways to kill dozens at a time that either don't make the news or don't get called crime, even when the deaths result from negligence and recklessness of powerful people.
Apparently it is how you kill people, not how many you kill, that matters.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Random street crime and trivial nonsense, it's still the thing
Here are some of the "top stories" in the news today:
Chandra Levy killer faces sentencing
Teacher outed over prostitute past
Lohan's dress too sexy for court?
Man accused of sex with cyber 'wife,' 13
'Grandad Bandit' admits heists
DA to seek death in Philly attacks
No prelim for Philly abortion doc
Brothers killed in attack on home
Fewer charges for Barry Bonds
Hidden Hostage Helps Police in N.C. Standoff
California Authorities Hunt for 'Geezer Bandit'
Police: Dad Wrote He Killed Missing Swiss Twins
Texas Man Charged With Filming Coeds in Showers
Mystery Surrounds Disappearance of Indiana Woman
And my favorite:
Teen Collapses and Dies Moments After First Kiss
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Crime all over the local news
From GoBlueRidge.Net
Six of the top seven stories in the local media deal with crime.
They deal with bad checks. Theft. Child abuse. Robbery. A new DNA law. And murder.
The message? Be afraid of street crime.
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