I have the fortunate-unfortunate luck of having a triple whammy in December. I have my wedding anniversary, Christmas, and my wife's birthday all in the same month. And God help me if I make the mistake of combining any of the three together. They have to be distinct, separate, and unique every year. That means, typically, I'm in some serious debt come January, singing the winter blues as I crawl out my financial, self-induced hole every year.

This year has been entirely different. Somehow, through a combination of working my rear off, good luck, late payments to me coming due and luck, I've been able to actually keep my head above water while hitting all three events completely. The kids had a full Christmas, my wife and I got a very nice anniversary, and her birthday is fully taken care of as well. Best part is, my debt hasn't increased and has actually gone down. I even managed to figure out how to pay for my younger kid's braces before the year was ended!

All of the above, of course, is just a microcosm shot of what's going on around the country from household to household in the U.S. People are trapped in a cycle of consumerism versus need versus cash flow. And 2022's inflation didn't help one bit. In fact, what it probably did would put a lot of folks living on the margin already into total disarray. The amount of petty theft across the country has skyrocketed to an amazing level. There was a time when shoplifting was generally relegated to pattern criminals or teenagers doing dumb things. Now, it's not uncommon to see a regular-looking adult trying to jam out of the grocery store with a full cart of food just to chuck it in the car trunk and drive away before being stopped. I'm also now seeing thieves walking out of Home Depot or Lowes on online videos and then getting their arses kicked in the parking lot by pissed off customers because nobody will do anything anymore. (https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/zkuf25/man_stealing_from_home_depot_faces_vigilantes_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Of course, these stories don't always have a happy ending. Many times the culprit pulls a knife or a gun on any resistance trying to stop them.

And why would workers try to get involved now? Numerous workers getting paid only basic wage or minimum wage are having guns put in their faces or physically attacked just stopping idiots from stealing basic stuff. It's not worth it when a corporation replaces the shrinkage the next days with a quick update in the inventory computer. One 83 year-old-worker tried to be different and got killed over 3 boxes of Ryobi tools. (https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/zfmoj9/gary_rasor_an_83_yearold_home_depot_employee/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)

These acts of desperation aren't random. Inflation is a very real, damaging problem, the kind of thing that turn into a serious societal disruption if not dealt with effectively. However, society isn't the same as it used to be 30 or 40 years ago. A significant drift has happened, creating economic classes that fundamentally stay apart from each other. And it's not just in blue states with congested population. The "Haves" stay in cordoned off neighborhoods, order everything online shipped to their homes, and refuse to mix. But they are the first to complain about anything being done to help the needy as they know it gets paid from taxes, which they predominantly pay most of due to higher income earning. The "Have-Nots" predominantly live in more urban settings, tend to rent, may even now have to share accommodations between more than one family, and regularly have to work a mixture of jobs to make ends meet. Their world is very much a daily survival to get ahead, even if it means stealing to fill the gap once in a while. They don't automatically want to steal, but when it means the difference between paying a heating bill or having food for the week, they opt to for the third illegal option. Most Have-Nots struggle day-in, day-out to get by, and that was before inflation hit. Now, they are entirely underwater, flooding their credit cards, and many are figuring what's the worst that happens if they get caught? No one's going to jail now for petty theft.

Add in the wide assortment of other characters now being released due to sentencing changes, not getting hired anywhere due to their prior records, and needing to find someway to make a living, and it's not surprise they shift to shoplifting, package theft and home burglaries as well. The profit level is high, capture risk is low, and it can be repeated again and again in multiple locations. They've already been through the system, so the "arrest" deterrent doesn't really phase these characters; it's just another obstacle to avoid or wait through.

So some will argue, where's the police? Why don't they just lock these idiots up like they did in the old days when things were better? The fact is, we've been here before. New York City, for example, became off-limits for the average person in the late 1980s because street crime was so bad, it literally was more dangerous than a warzone to walk around in daily. And that did take exceptional police presence to break up; the move generated the well-known "broken-windows" philosophy that proactive policing at the lowest level stops more serious crime consistently. It also created the nasty habit of arbitrary stop-and-frisk without a probable cause, which the courts later struck down. It was an extreme response to an extreme problem. Today is very different from yesterday. Instead of everyone dealing with the problem, the Haves have isolated themselves, leaving the Have-Nots and government to sort out the remaining mess. 

Society doesn't work with separate camps, and I'm not saying the Haves need to be charitable angels either. Instead, what I'm arguing is, society needs to find a way to make things livable at every level, not just those enjoying $100 dining out every night. The thieves need to stop stealing, the employers need to find a way to retain people instead firing them every cash crunch, the Haves need to help generate new growth instead of being lazy with consumerism, and the Have-Nots need to get more involved in their community instead of going into bunker mode. That's a tall order, especially given that the normal human behavior these days is to separate and isolate. However, historically, every society that has generated significant growth did it due to involvement at every level. They were not always good societies, but they had that one aspect in common with all of them.

Back to my microcosm, can I expect next Christmas to be better? That depends on what I do with 2023 and my community. I can't change the world, but I can change what I deal with directly.