NY State Is Doing Everything It Can to Destroy Retail

From the NY Post: NY retailers blast Hochul over theft which has cost stores $4.4 billion

The numbers from different parts of the state cover different time periods, but they all point to an increasing problem.

Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down.

However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft.

Because the proposal would have cost $35 million that the state doesn't have. So what is 7% of $4.4 billion? (That is $308 million in lost sales tax - or whatever the percentage should be for sales tax in NY - due to theft. Math is hard for New Yorkers.)

Law enforcement blames 2 things. Bail reform, and progressive prosecutors who seem to be determined to increase crime. And they are increasing crime.

Syracuse has 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021. A local pharmacy chain in Syracuse has losses of more than $250,000 per year.

The Big Apple saw a 64% increase in reported incidents of retail theft during the four-year period between mid-2019 and June of this year, according to the Council on Criminal Justice.

One of the comments to the article gets it exactly right. This is what the people of New York State have voted for, and this is what they are getting. Higher costs. Higher insurance. Less choice of retail outlets, since businesses can't survive under those circumstances.

Of course the cynical side of my personality is that this is all to benefit online retailers. If there are no local stores, because they've been driven out of business by crime, you will have to order online, though I'm not sure they have solved the porch pirate problem.

Hat tip to David Greyson at the Gateway Pundit, who notes that NYC Mayor Adams plans to install kiosks in stores to connect would-be thieves to social services. And the NYPD is having a continuing exodus.

The New York Police Department is also losing officers at an alarming rate.

According to NYPD pension data reviewed by the New York Post, “a total of 2,516 NYPD cops have left so far this year, the fourth highest number in the past decade and 43% more than the 1,750 who hightailed it in 2018, before the pandemic and crime spikes hit the city.”

But that is also what the people of New York said they wanted.