Since the economic system is unfair, is it okay to steal if you're poor?

This is utter, utter bullshit Dan. In my experience, as a shop owner, it is the thieving scum who think they have a certain unique divine right, IE to help themselves to that which you have worked (hard) for. Last year a charver stole a mountainbike from my shop, we never saw it, or him again. The insurance didn't pay up, B/C it was below the excess. This year the corner shop up the road from us had £5000 cash stolen by charver thieves. Again, a total loss for a hardworking family business. Dan, the thieves you would seem to romanticise would clean your home out, or the home of anyone else out w/o a second's thought. They would sell your posessions that you worked for for far less than their worth, and would probably piss away the fruit of your work in a weekend, then go and do the same thing to you or someone else next week. They would feel no remorse whatsoever, and would most likely with a straight face sympathise w/yr loss. Do not buy any of the mythologising of the gentleman thief who only rips off the rich, b/c no such person exists - thieves prey on those who are the easiest to rip off - IE the poor & vunerable. And don't come out w/ any bullshit in a class warrior stylee please, thieves are class traitors, pure & simple. If I had caught the guy who ripped off our bike, I'd have bust his motherfucking head open, and don't even try to tell me I'd have been in the wrong. I make my money by selling & servicing stuff. I am an honourable trader, so fuck you for this sub-class war garbage Dan:

most small business owners are complete assholes because they've been trained by the (capitalist) system to think they have certain unique divine rights as business-people

Perhaps if you got ripped off w/o redress, you would talk a bit more sense. I hope you never do. Maryann, I don't think it's OK to steal wether yer rich or poor. Stealing is wrong. End of story.

theres obviously some people here who don't know what its like to be unable to buy food. a few years ago, WINZ fucked up my student allowance and didn't pay me anything for SIX WEEKS. how the fuck are you supposed to eat and pay your power bills when you have no money? what if your parents have no money and you can't borrow from them? what if your friends are all on benefits too, which is only enough to pay their own bills and no more? what if the bank won't lend you money cos you're not an "earner"? are you going to try to tell me i should just STARVE for SIX WEEKS?

Go on, assume away, mr/ms harpy troll. (sigh). You haven't got something. Then that makes it ok to just take it from someone else, who then hasn't got the same thing you were 'till recently without? What rubbish. And said person might not have student allowance coming in 6 weeks or whatever. In fact they could have a couple of kids, a piss poor job, and a load of debt. More likely that than be rich, certainly, for the rich are a lot better & more efficient at protecting their posessions in my experience.

There’s heaps of problems with people advocating shoplifting as a means of wealth redistribution and a few of them have already been covered here. its generally harder to steal from large businesses because they have cameras and security people so most shoplifting affects small shops-owners who don't have the luxury of a guaranteed income each week (such as the dole). its quite easy to shoplift enough to put them out of business and then all their business goes to the multi-nationals. how that helps the poor i don't know. also a lot of shoplifting in small shops is actually a subtle form of intimidation - the shopkeeper often knows what the shoplifter is doing but feels powerless to do anything about it. Generally it causes all sorts of problems for the workers too. so much for class solidarity. And shoplifting is nearly always for luxury goods, not necessities.

i don't know much about ripping off institutions, people marrying for student allowances nearly always have rich parents because otherwise they would qualify for allowances themselves. But then getting married is always an amusing thing to do so if you don't believe in marriage then why waste the opportunity to get a fake one? And you know a student allowance is just some money to live off when you'd probably otherwise be on the dole or on a living loan that you never intend to pay back so it doesn't really make a difference to the intitution.

What about ripping off institutions, like people getting a marriage of convenience so that they can get student allowance?
actually, this i can understand in some cases. i think its really wrong that in New Zealand there are many 18-25yearolds who are treated as dependant on their parents. but on the other hand, i know people whose parents give them $600 per week as allowance, but use a marriage of convenience to get even MORE money. that makes me sick.

to think so is to suffer the delusions of the rich. Fuck off asshole.

"The delusions of the rich" HA HA HA, you clearly have NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE ON ABOUT DAN. Look at it this way, if, for example, Ronan or Di were to visit my tiny little house, I'd probably feel pretty OK abt it. You, OTOH, I'd probably hide away what few valuables we do own if wintermute the thief-lover came a-calling. BTW me and my wife are on "Working Families Tax Credit", which if you didn't know is a form of welfare for low-paid people, BTW, you, mr "all kinds of thieving are not equal" are certainly much better off than I am. Perhaps then you would be quite happy if I took off with your computer & sold it to buy shoes for our son? Oh, actually I wouldn't do that, b/c I do have some principles, and would not rip people off, yea verily not even the ignorant, or those w/o any sense of right or wrong whatsoever. Gah.