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Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

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631–640 of 670 posts

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#631
post #626
post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly how society works. If people work for my living and see someone just steal for theirs with absolutely no consequence, what they learn is that social dysfunction is optimal, and that doing otherwise is being a chump.

how about we build a robust social safety net so that stealing less than $1000 worth of stuff is not the best way to survive

Please re-read your parent. Same concept here. If you make it that comfortable, then why work? Keep in mind that there will always be people who want things the programs won't provide that they're literally willing to kill for - drugs, the newest iPhone, in-style basketball shoes, etc.

Now, I do agree in a parallel way, but with a different solution. If we fix structural problems preventing people from being, or having hope of being, productive members of society, than that can prevent some crime.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#632

I should point out to those not from the US that this is how Americans view the US. There is a lot of crime, the government and NGOs are on the side of the criminals etc. It is up voted to the top as well, with agreement in the replies, this is how Americans view the US. The US incarcerates more people than China, despite China having more than four times as many people, but the view obviously is the incarceration ra…

Actually it's not. At all. Even with the rampant anti American propaganda, anyone with sense understands the privilege of being in this country.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The massive incarceration rates in the US don't seem to be solving anything, although you don't think they're enough. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the industrialized world yet in your view it is barely incarcerating at all. If China is too different, look at western Europe. England's incarceration rate is less than one third of the US's. Canada is on sixth of the US's. These countries have lower incar…

There are short-term solutions and there are long-term solutions. What is your long-term solution?

Trolls aren't paid to have solutions, just spew garbage. I wouldn't waste any time responding to this troll.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#634
post #626
post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly how society works. If people work for my living and see someone just steal for theirs with absolutely no consequence, what they learn is that social dysfunction is optimal, and that doing otherwise is being a chump.

how about we build a robust social safety net so that stealing less than $1000 worth of stuff is not the best way to survive

If that's what you want to try, okay that's fine. But do that first, not second. It helps neither side to do it second.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#635
post #530
post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I had one with an immobiliser. By the third time it went nuts and blocked me from starting the car it took me about 3 minutes to reset it, and the tools were already kept in the trunk for just this. Now I live in a country where it's normal to leave cars with open windows and even doors in the street so that they don't overheat in the sun. Sometimes even with keys dangling. No immobilisers necessary -- only dec…

Yeah I ultimately agree with your last sentence, I used to live in a little town where that was the case. But cities will atract all types so you must hedge your bets.

Clearly cities elsewhere don't. This isn't a "city" attribute.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#636
post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where is Baltimore supposed to get the funding to meet this increase in demand for city services? That is for American politics to figure out. This is an American political issue and blaming Korean car makers is absurd.

Once you’ve had a gun pointed at you from a car, taken down the license plate, then been told there’s nothing they can do because the car was stolen —- you’ll realize that car theft isn’t some individual problem. We’ve had the tech to solve this problem for decades, but car manufacturers decided to save a few bucks.

The fact that this phenomenon is only really seen in the US is enough on its own to conclude that this is an American political or social problem.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#637
post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where is Baltimore supposed to get the funding to meet this increase in demand for city services? That is for American politics to figure out. This is an American political issue and blaming Korean car makers is absurd.

They have to include the anti-theft systems in the vast majority of other countries. They made the conscious choice to save a few dollars per car not including it in US models...with predictable impact on US society...because it wasn't required here. Because car companies have fought legislation to mandate it, via lobbyists. How would you feel if in the rest of the world kids pajamas were made of fabric that didn't b…

> How would you feel if in the rest of the world kids pajamas were made of fabric that didn't burn easily / melt onto skin, but in the US due to lax regulation, companies were making them out of cheaper fabric that is practically tinder and easily melts to the skin, but slightly cheaper?

This kind of thing is standard practice in almost every industry. Products are generally manufactured according to safety standards that are required in the country of sale. This is especially prevalent in cars. Things like airbags, crumple zones, even seatbelts. Plenty of countries where cars are sold without backseat seatbelts.

Id also be genuinely interested in a source for your claim of immobilizers being required in the "vast majority" of other countries as my Google skills are failing to find it. Furthermore, in the other countries where one is not required, has this ommission led to the same "predictable impacts on society" there?

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#638
It's pretty sad to see one of the deeply democratic voting cities, with no opposition to blame, start to use companies as their scapegoat for crime.

The sad part is their voter base will somehow think any alternative ideas that lean even a bit to the right of their radical left policies is too extreme and that the status quo of double digit homicide and poverty levels unseen in almost any other city are preferred.

Get a good look at the root of the issue in America. It's found in Baltimore and san Francisco.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#639
post #635
post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I ultimately agree with your last sentence, I used to live in a little town where that was the case. But cities will atract all types so you must hedge your bets.

Clearly cities elsewhere don't. This isn't a "city" attribute.

I meant theft in general. There are probabaly some exceptions but I most cities would have auto theft.

Re: Baltimore sues Hyundai, Kia over spike in car thefts

#640

I should point out to those not from the US that this is how Americans view the US. There is a lot of crime, the government and NGOs are on the side of the criminals etc. It is up voted to the top as well, with agreement in the replies, this is how Americans view the US. The US incarcerates more people than China, despite China having more than four times as many people, but the view obviously is the incarceration ra…

> The US incarcerates more people than China, despite China having more than four times as many people Homicide and incarceration rates per 100k people: homicide | incarceration | incarceration/homicide USA 6.4 | 505 | 79 China 0.5 | 119 | 238 Norway 0.6 | 55 | 92 In other words, China incarcerates 3x as many people per homicide as the USA, and the USA homicide rate is 12.8x that of China. Homicide is used instead of…

To be fair, killing people is a lot easier in the USA…
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