The Making of Criminals

The New York Times published an article yesterday on the rise of restaurant grease thieves. And the downward spiral of capitalism and criminalization begins. Grease can be used to create diesel biofuel, costing the driver as little as $1 a gallon. With the national gas price averages reaching $4 a gallon, more and more people are turning towards grease as an alternative fuel solution. But because we live in a capitalist society, what should have been a great, practically free option is now creating rapidly increasing prices, a black market, and nighttime theft of used grease.

What kills me is that restaurant owners are thinking of installing cameras in order to prevent people from breaking into dumpsters and stealing waste oil. One guy says: “Theft is theft...I don’t care if you’re stealing grease or if you’re stealing diamonds.” Seriously? (What's even funnier, grease in this instance in my mind is more valuable than diamonds. Diamonds are merely a hunk of shiny rock, useless in the everyday, where as grease can have a dual purpose.)

Who or what are these restaurant owners trying to protect? Their own egos, having been stolen from? The waste management companies who the owners pay in order to get rid of the waste? Or perhaps more broadly the oil companies who are screwing over the whole world while reaping the monetary benefits?

People who see things in black and white--"theft is theft"--are missing the larger picture

Average U.S. Gasoline Prices
Year	Price Per Gallon
1980	$1.22
1985	$1.96
1990	$1.22
1995	$1.21
2000	$1.56
2001	$1.53
2002	$1.44
2003	$1.64
2004	$1.92
2005	$2.34
2006	$2.63
2007	$2.85
2008 (to April)	$3.24
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI). Average Price Data, Gasoline All Types.

entirely. Our receding economy is creating new crimes, but rather than trying to resist and subvert the economic crisis by working and participating in alternative means of survival, people remain narrow-minded and call the po-po to help them solve the mystery of stolen grease--and the police are only too happy to oblige. Clearly, it is way more important to figure out who stole chicken grease than to respond to a 9-1-1 in an inner-city area (check out my girl's blog for more info). Greasing becomes the latest crime, but we don't address the reasons for it. We are caught in the middle of a power struggle between the US elite and OPEC, and everyone else is suffering, from the people who take public transportation who face fare hikes, to middle-income families who are barely surviving yet face defaulting on their mortgage in order to pay for fuel to drive to work every day, to even gas station owners, who are making less and less profit to keep their business afloat and feel pressure to use cut-throat and dishonest methods.

It is more important than ever to understand that this country is bullshit. I'm sure "theft-is-theft" guy would give me some story about how I don't understand, certain rules have to be upheld, blah blah blah, but check it--there's a black market for used grease. People are being taken to court for siphoning waste in order to convert it to fuel so they can continue to make and spend money, which is what the US government wants, after all. It is just so hard to take this country seriously. It's hard not to laugh incredulously at everything.