Economics and Morality
There is a lively commerce in stolen goods. In some neighborhoods, merchandise is offered door to door that is highly suspect. It is also cheap. The same stuff is available at some flea markets. This is not contraband but items such as razor blades and OTC digestive medicine. These are easily stolen and concealed and their price per pound is high.
There is a temptation to some to get a good deal. The net effect of these transactions is one of creating a market for stolen goods and making theft profitable. There are other consequences, including higher prices for other items sold by the victimized merchants.
There is the same incentive to use the services of illegal immigrants. I had need of some workers when I was getting my former residence ready for sale. I could have saved some money. I chose to go the legal route.
Americans will do hard work. Some years ago, I bought a lot of equipment from a government agency. It involved 20 44-foot trailer loads that had to go into my 4th floor warehouse. We had no loading dock so the stuff had to go from a truck, 20 feet on a sidewalk, up and elevator, and into the warehouse. I hired workers off the street. Most were African-Americans who were laid off from the steel mills. They worked for a fraction of their normal pay and it was in cash. They worked hard and said that I had made Christmas possible for their families. So much for lazy Americans.
Thanks to a rather nutty partner who turned the whole enterprise into what seemed to be a cheap remake of Zorba the Greek (he was the Zorba but Italian rather than Greek) the matter did not involve the windfall that was expected but I was happy that some people who worked hard were able to ‘keep Christmas’.
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