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It’s really telling about what American society values that wage theft perpetrated by the owning class is rarely prosecuted and is considered a civil matter, wh
by beisner 6y ago
It’s really telling about what American society values that wage theft perpetrated by the owning class is rarely prosecuted and is considered a civil matter, while non-violent offenses including petty theft and drug possession perpetrated by the labor class (which cause orders of magnitude less fiscal harm) make up something like 90% of all arrests in the US.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoAre there other societies you have in mind where wage theft is a criminal offense? It seems to me that the difference in punishment is because of the mechanism of the theft, not a judgment that the underlying fiscal harm doesn't matter.
- beisner 6y agoI don’t know enough about other countries’ wage theft situation to comment. I would assume countries with larger union representation would experience less wage theft of this kind, but I don’t really know. I do know that other countries don’t incarcerate anywhere close to as many of its citizens as the US, especially for what amounts to a rounding-error’s worth financial loss due to petty theft (a handful of fighter jets worth).
- runako 6y agoIf the only thing that mattered was the fiscal harm, then shoplifting or embezzling or the like should also be a civil matter like wage theft. There's definitely a value judgement involved in the way our penalties are structured.
- nevdka 6y agoVictoria in Australia has recently passed laws making wage theft a criminal offence: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-legislation-passes-victorian-parliament/ https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/wage-theft-legislation-passes...
- SpicyLemonZest 6y agoInteresting. I'll have to read up on the arguments behind this.
- Spartan-S63 6y agoBecause anything different is "hostile to business" and will result in businesses "leaving the country." It's all FUD that ensures that crimes perpetrated by the owning class aren't actually prosecuted.
- SamReidHughes 6y agoIf you don't prosecute for petty theft, you get what we see in San Francisco, where stores can't operate because their shelves are empty.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- beisner 6y agoThere would probably be less petty theft if we prosecuted wage theft more aggressively.