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Unintended consequences of flatscreen tv’s. They increase the loss when people break into your home! When will lawmakers take action and ban those pesky flatscr

• mmt 8y ago
  That's a poor analogy, since flatscreens aren't state-mandated (nor have a mandated value-increasing component). A better analogy would be catalytic converters, which increase the loss when a car is stolen, since there's a significant quantity of precious metal up the tailpipe. Perhaps an even better analogy (since it provides a direct safety benefit to the purchaser) is that of airbags. For a while, they created an attractive break-in/theft target on their own, due to their very high value to size/weight ratio. I'm pretty sure that was an unintended consequence, too.
  • brokenmachine 8y ago
    People stole airbags?
    • mmt 8y ago
      It's not even past tense, in that it still happens. A web search for "airbag theft" should reveal that it's still an issue. Presumably it's only less of an issue because the cost of the part has come down from $1k or more (in '92 dollars, no less).