With a

one minute look at culture from a Christian worldview. I'm John Stone Street with the point.

According to Capital One, American retailers will lose a record $130 billion this year

as shoplifting continues to spike across the nation.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, quote, shoplifting rates in Portland were up 22%

in the first half of 2023 when compared with the same period in 2019.

Target Nike, REI, all of these announced closures of Portland Area stores last year

after pleas for city leaders to do something fell apparently on deaf ears. Multiple factors have contributed to the problem,

especially Portland's $15 million budget cuts to the police in 2020, and the

destigmatization of stealing. In recent years, activists have described shoplifting as an active resistance, as reparations,

or as a means of obtaining resources for the poor.

Look, ideas have consequences. Some may think that stigma is only a dirty

word but some things should be stigmatized including theft which is never a victimless crime. The

retailers and the consumers in Portland are finding that out the hard way.

For the Colston Center, I'm John Stone Street with the Point.