Expect Higher Price Inflation, More Theft Of Industrial Metals As USSA Collapses

When unemployment and inflation cause skyrocketing incentives for thieves to steal industrial metals like copper, criminals rush for some of the biggest sources: critical infrastructure. That includes cell towers, water pipes, street lights, and rail lines. These copper heists threaten transportation, communication, municipal services, urban safety, and other essentials of modern life.

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/two-arrested-for-stealing-copper-at-cell-tower-in-texas/
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/us/stolen-transmitter-radio-tower-jasper-alabama/index.html
https://abc7.com/copper-wire-theft-sixth-street-bridge-lights/14353080/
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/vta-light-rail-copper-metal-theft-500k-damage-arrests-made-san-jose-sunnyvale/
https://tdn.com/news/local/police-theft-suspect-caught-trying-to-sell-stolen-water-pipes-online/article_baa79c6e-a034-11e4-aadc-23cd2948cac8.html
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/l-a-leaders-announce-initiative-to-address-copper-thefts/ar-AA1jVWUv

The chaos they can cause can cost lives, too — for example, copper heists from railways can cause warning lights, intersection gates, and turnouts that divert trains to other tracks to go offline.

If dollar inflation continues sufficiently unabated - and it will considering the US government debt is only massively increasing - the relative price of copper and other industrial metals will continue to rise. Other unexpected wrenches in the economy, like the recent closure of the Port of Baltimore, could also challenge well established propagandist predictions. The Port of Baltimore was one of the US’s main exporters of coal, which could cause upward pressure on the global price of energy in an already-inflationary environment, and make metal smelting operations more expensive.

And as metal prices soar, so have incidents of theft that damage crucial infrastructure and multiply existing economic damage. Freight train accidents and delays, power and cellular blackouts, municipal sewer damage, and flooding and drainage issues from stolen gutters and pipes are just a few of the problems caused by 2024’s surging copper theft across America and the world.

https://www.wired.com/story/metal-theft-epidemic-copper-steel/

Also at risk are electric vehicle charging stations, which have been proliferating around the country. Although they only contain a small amount of copper that can be extracted, meaning very little profit for thieves, their opportunistic mischief requires an expensive fix — especially for EV stations that are repeatedly targeted and need to be continually repaired or replaced: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/copper-thieves-target-ev-charging-cables-in-the-twin-cities/

And when thieves are desperate, nothing is sacred. Not even statues of civil rights leaders or copper headstones in graveyards are safe from the temptation of an easy flip when prices are too high for criminals to ignore. And while these sorts of thefts don’t endanger infrastructure, they’re a sign of the times and a unique indicator that the US dollar and economy are in troubled shape.

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/more-inflation-more-copper-theft