Without getting political (If that is at all possible???) desperation and a lack of education drives crime IMO. (This from a man who grew up in and around housing projects in and around Boston) Desperation because money is hard to come by, due to lack of opportunity due to lack of education.... It's kind of a cycle... What has changed in the last few years is the supply and demand of copper - something we are all well aware of...
Why is the price of copper so high? Well it seems some jerk in the Dept. of the Interior made an announcement that "1/2 the worlds copper has been mined - and we will run out in the year 2020." This was ONE guy's opinion, and had little science to back him up on it, but that type of wording hit the stock market the next day... Then there was (and I believe still is) a workers strike on copper nearly coinciding with that news. And then China is needing more to make the things that they sell to us.... The list goes on and on.
How do you get copper theft to stop? Three things that are nearly impossible to do: 1.) Drop the price of copper in much the same way we manipulate the price of oil. By dictating supply and demand. 2.)Raise general wages to the point where people have a living wage, and it is more profitable and easier to make a decent living in a decent way, as opposed to crime. 3.)Change the acceptance of people patronizing places that are embarrassing to work in that do not provide quality products anyway. Those types of places only serve to enslave their workers to low pay and benefit. But they have become the "American Day-Dream"... 'One day you too can own your own corporate sponsored franchise - give us your profit, and if you keep wages low you might make some money yourself - maybe?'
BTW Dare I say it, here's another one...
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime/ci_6299923And an iteresting news story on it (Hit "listen")
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6073433
