Who's buying stolen copper?
Scrap metal brokers do not (in most cases) ask where it comes from. After it's in their hands for a few hours it is usually untraceable. In some cases they will ask for some kind of written "proof" of origin. This can be just about any hand written document (receipt) that supposedly was issued to the thief by the person he obtained the metal from. It's also a handy fake document to have on hand if the thief is pulled over by law enforcement on the way to the scrap metal broker.
Legitimate scrap metal sellers will purchase their goods from electricians, plumbers, locksmiths and heating and air-conditioning companies (to name the most common sources) before selling it to a broker. Thieves will get their stuff from any available source (as noted in previous post).
In the past, metal thieves have tended to be drug addicts who are looking for a cheap and (relatively easy) way to score more drugs. Ripping the guts out of construction sites after hours and on weekends is easier and safer than armed robbery or burglary. Today, though, the wonders of Obamanomics is making everyday life begin to resemble Les Miserables and desperate people resort to unscrupulous methods to make ends meet. Imagine how crazy things will get if and when unemployment rises further and/or a depression sets in.
A bit of anecdotal history: I remember the
gas shortages of the late 1970's being particularly bad for thievery. Gasoline prices had risen to well over 250% since the previous decade and had done so inside of only a year or two (thanks President Carter!). This was a big financial shock to a lot of people and some of them began to do strange and unusual things. Drive offs, where someone would fill their tank, drop the nozzle on the ground and speed off without paying, were the most common. Siphoning was pretty common, too. I remember one story where a fairly sophisticated van would pull up over the fill caps for the underground tanks, lower a hose into them from a trap door in the van and then pump the gas up into 55 gallon drums. Even the people who ran gas stations would steal gas by "rounding." Rounding was a scheme where the attendant would fill his own tank at the end of the business day by taking anywhere from a half a gallon to nine tenths of a gallon from each pump. This was possible because of the way that the old gas pumps recorded the gas. Each pump had a (mechanical) digital readout much like the odometer in cars that recorded the total gas used. The attendant would have to take a reading on it at the end of the day. Usually they would only be required to record to the nearest gallon but the meter measured down to the tenth of a gallon. So, if the meter read 0 tenths the attendant could pump out 9 more tenths of a gallon and still record the same (whole) number. Particularly greedy attendants would shut pumps off during the day as soon as they saw a zero tenths reading. Depending on the number of pumps at the station a rounding thief could pull in anywhere between 10 or 20 gallons of gas. Then there were the attendants who took advantage of the odd/even day rationing of the Carter years. During those miserable times you could only purchase gas for your car if your license plate matched the calendar day number. On top of that gas stations had quotas that limited the total number of gallons they could sell each day. A rationing thief would shut down his station early, leaving several hundred gallons for him to sell to friends and special customers. The rationing thief would charge a few extra bucks per person (under the table) to fill cars "by appointment." A lot of people would gladly pay the bribe to avoid the nuisance of the long lines during the odd/even day rationing period.
Ahh, the Carter years. What bliss.
A gas station would open and immediately a line would form. The quota would usually be something like three or four thousand gallons. That would mean 150 to 200 cars could fill up at 20 gallons a tank. So one of the attendants would begin to walk down the line of cars counting them off until they thought they had enough to make the quota and then they would hang a sign on the rear of the last car in their count that read, "LAST CAR." Fist fights would sometimes break out at the pumps and in the lines, especially when people would try to cut in line. It was just like the Soviet Union except it was America.
People just couldn't wait to vote for Reagan.
And that's the big problem for so many libs today (one in particular whose name we don't mention because he's such an ass, for example), they are just too young to remember the misery of the Carter years. Double digit inflation, ridiculously high priced gasoline, crazy mortgage rates, super high unemployment, the American hostages held in Iran, etc.
Remember the
Misery Index?
It was the sum of the unemployment rate and the rate of inflation.
During the Presidential campaign of 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter made frequent references to the Misery Index, which by the summer of 1976 was at 13.57%. Carter stated that no man responsible for giving a country a misery index that high had a right to even ask to be President. Carter won the 1976 election. However, by 1980, when President Carter was running for re-election against Ronald Reagan, the Misery Index had reached an all-time high of 21.98%. Carter lost the election to Reagan.
Our current misery index is just over 12% but that is only because of the Fed doing everything it can to keep inflation at bay. They won't be able to hold it back too much longer. Then the baby libs will start squealing because they have never known such a thing in their lifetimes.
Libs who are forty and younger have never known pain such as was experienced by adults during the Carter years. That's because they were either in diapers or not born yet. They have grown up and reached adulthood during the post Reagan golden age of prosperity. Well, two Bushes, a Clinton and an Obama have finally killed that golden egg laying goose and we are about to be truly in the sh*ts. Another term for President Dumbass will push us over the edge and that will be that. It will be a tough enough job for anyone to fix the mess we are in now. Only a true fiscal conservative has a chance to set things back to the way they need to be. And even then, the young will be paying for it forever.
BONUS!!!
Three select songs from The Kinks "Low Budget" album. This outstanding album came out in 1979 and was a pretty obvious statement about life during the Carter years. "A Gallon Of Gas" compared the difficulty (and expense) of obtaining a full tank to buying drugs:
A Gallon Of GasThe title song, "Low Budget" reflected the reality of high inflation, the scarcity of decent jobs and having to make do with less:
The kinks low budgetFinally, "Catch Me Now I'm Falling" about America's impotence on the national stage under Carter:
The Kinks - Catch Me Now I'm FallingThis is a great album with, sadly, historical importance and relevance to today's administration.
