Will these be our seniors?

[tekkychick]

If we keep cutting safety nets, will our seniors start shoplifting for food as in Japan? Or per SignalmanKen's other post, maybe they'll kill themselves; I'm sure that some conservatives would prefer hungry seniors just disappear.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/tokyo-senior-shoplifters_n_3573813.html

Shoplifting is an age old problem and now the shoplifters are older than ever -- at least in Tokyo.

Tokyo police officials say that nearly 25 percent of all shoplifting arrests in the city last year were 65 years old or older.

Sticky-fingered oldsters arrested narrowly outnumbered teen shoplifters, the Telegraph reported.

The increase comes at a time when overall shoplifting is down, according to a Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman.

The shoplifting stats show that nearly 73 percent of the shoplifting seniors were unemployed and 11.3 percent were on welfare. A third of those arrested cited lack of money as the reason they committed the crime and and 32 percent said they had no one to turn to for help.

Food made up about 70 percent of the stolen items, the Japan Times reported.