Saturday, June 23, 2007

A recent headline points out why it wouldn't be a bad idea to post the Ten Commandments in our schools.

"Theft Rising at U.S. Wal-Mart Stores" noted a recent Associated Press business story. The article pointed out that the retailing giant is being hit by a tidalwave of shoplifting. Employers and customers alike are hauling out goods without paying for them.

Last year, Wal-Mart decided it was not going to prosecute minor shoplifting cases. Instead, it chose to concentrate on major shoplifting rings. While the AP claims that Wal-Mart has cuts its security force, the news organization also reports that the company denies it has reduced security staff.

Of course, Wal-Mart, just like any other company, has a right to decide how best to police shoplifting and fraud. But I don't think the issue here is whether the company is cracking down hard enough on thieves. The real issue is this: some people walking through Wal-Mart's doors believe that they are entitled to steal.

While it may seem astounding to think that entitlements now include theft, it only makes sense, given the permissiveness of our society. If schools, courthouses, and municipal buildings don't post the command, "Thou Shalt Not Steal," it stands to reason that children would grow up believing that stealing isn't all that bad.

Last week, Slate broke the news that Claude Allen, until recently the White House chief domestic-policy adviser, was arrested for theft in suburban Maryland. The president has expressed his shock and disappointment. How could one of his top appointees, a devout Christian who passed a series of FBI background checks, have been a common thief? But the more we hear about what Allen is accused of, the less it sounds like kleptomania and the more it sounds like an application of Bush economic policy.

Allen's alleged scam was something called "refund fraud." According to the police in Montgomery County, he would purchase a home-theater system or a computer printer from a department store and put it in the trunk of his car. Then he would come back to the same store with his receipt, pull an identical item off the shelf, and take it to the return desk for a refund. Using this technique, a brazen perpetrator pays for the item once but derives value from it two times—he gets his money back and keeps the merch. Allen is alleged to have stolen more than $5,000 worth of merchandise over the past year in this way.