" Times are hard ! " cries petty thief

     If I were a plutocrat , I would insist that all my very private wealth be guarded by a principled socialist. Socialists themselves may agree with the famous anarchist Proudhon that " property is theft ".  Nevertheless redistributing wealth - all that Marxian " surplus value "- is an extremely complex socio-political problem. It can only be solved at the highest levels of a social democracy.  Therefore any petty thief- who simply transfers legal private property to himself, making it HIS possession, is just as despicable under socialist law as under capitalist law-where PRIVATE PROPERTY is sacrosanct. Social chaos is simply not permissible in a period of transition to a new social order.

            It  won't be necessary to  hound the wealthy class.    It might be very impractical to quickly and ruthlessly deprive them of  their capital.   With the public re-educated about the social nature of wealth, its empowered representatives in the government can present the old ruling class with a revised SOCIAL CONTRACT: Capital in the form of money or means of production MUST be ACTIVE capital - used to employ ALL the working class in socially useful-if not PROFITABLE- production and services.  Presently full employment is made impossible by the irrational FREE MARKET profit system. Good  working class talent and skills can rot for years if some boss cannot make money on it.  The human tragedy of capitalist depression and recession is well documented. We don't need another Great Depression.

            Just a simple rational attitude toward wealth creation has world shaking consequences. For now that gentleman- thief in the Providence Journal story today (  ' Times are hard ' : RI man charged with stealing from Cub Scouts  ,  Sept.30 )  could be helped not by a harsh prison sentence( he only stole $238 from Cub Scout cash box ) but by a GUARANTEED ANNUAL WAGE.  Instead of " times are hard ! " let him yell in a peaceful public demonstration : " We want a guaranteed annual income ! " .  That alone should put an end to pathetic acts of thievery and abject public begging.