Um, people are so desperate in Greensboro, they're stealing manhole covers

[libnnc]

No shit. This is a first in my lifetime. :scared:

Manhole covers stolen around city
Updated: 03/05/2008 08:39 PM
By: Kira Mathis

GREENSBORO -- More than 70 manhole covers have gone missing around Greensboro recently.

Storm water maintenance supervisor Tim Elmore says covers have been stolen before but usually just a few at a time, most likely for a teenage prank.

"Over the 28 years that I've been here, I've never seen this many being gone at one time," he commented.

Elmore thinks they are being sold to scrap metal companies.

"I mean the price of scrap metal has gone up. We've seen it increase just like the price of everything else so we feel pretty confident that they're probably being sold," he explained. <snip>

http://news14.com/content/local_news/triad/593606/manhole-covers-stolen-around-city/Default.aspx

[Warpy]

1. A gang was stealing telephone cable off the poles

south of the city, leaving whole towns without phone service until they could be replaced. The price of copper has escalated greatly. The gang has since been caught, but there are others ripping the plumbing out of unoccupied houses for the same reason, to sell as scrap copper.

Forget about those pennies, though, they're mostly zinc.

[SoCalDem]

2. Out here they are disabling traffic lights & stealing the wire from freeway light

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-copper6mar06,1,3360754.story


Freeways going dark as thieves steal wiring
Los Angeles Times, CA - 5 hours ago
A California Highway Patrol officer urged the public today to report suspicious activity that could point to thieves removing copper wiring from lighting ...

[swag]

3. Soon we'll be able to buy futures contracts on stolen manhole covers.

May as well do things the right way.

[taterguy]

4. How the hell do you fence a manhole cover?

I don't know much about the scrap metal biz but how would a private citizen legitimately come into possession of a bunch of manhole covers?

[mikeytherat]

8. Plasma cut it into a big 'ol pile of bits, then sell the bits.

Sure it's a bit of work, but so is stealing 70 manhole covers in the first place.

mikey_the_rat

[flyarm]

5. by my Jersey beach house they are stealing copper pipes in outside showers..

my whole street has been hit!!

fly

[seriousstan]

6. Greensboro has an unemployment rate of 4.7%, hardly desperate.

[libnnc]

12. Whatever.

[BrotherBuzz]

7. It's getting harder to sell scrap metal in California

The crackdown is being enforced at the county levels so I'm not sure if it's statewide, but sellers are photographed, and affidavits are filled out explaining when the material came from. They are not paid on the spot, but are sent a check after if checked out. Selling manholes covers, heavy gage copper wire, and the likes, without good documentation will guarantee a visit from the sheriff.

[Dukkha]

9. here some local old churches were stripped of their gutters

because they were made of copper.

[Hannah Bell]

10. Why is Metal so Lucrative? Ultimately, you can trace it to...

financial speculation, up to & including manipulation of markets
& fraud. Crime at the top = crime at the bottom.

From:

The Commodity Bubble, The Metals Manipulation, The Contagion Risk To Gold And The Threat Of The Great Hedge Fund Unwind To Spread Product

Speech given to Global Central Bankers at the World Bank Executive Forum by Frank Veneroso


"In the first part of this paper on the “Commodity Bubble”, I make the case that, in real terms, we have had an unprecedented commodity bubble in this decade. This bubble has occurred because of unprecedented investment and speculation in commodities, largely
by way of derivatives. The far more important engine of this bubble has been leveraged speculation by hedge funds....

In part two, “Metals: A Speculation to the Point of Manipulation”, I turn to the leading edge of this cycle’s commodity mania – metals. In base metals and to some degree in white metals hedge fund speculation has extended beyond derivatives TO PURCHASES OF THE PHYSICAL. This has resulted in several variants of classic market “squeezes” across the metals sector. These squeezes in the context of a runaway speculative fervor have resulted in increases in real prices for some metals that are far in excess of anything that has ever occurred before for these metals, in particular, and almost all commodities in general.

In the third part of this paper, I consider gold... The last advance in the price of gold since mid 2005 has been driven by funds..."

[Hannah Bell]

11. More:

"If you take all the economies in the world, valuing GDP based on exchange rates, the overall global growth rate has not significantly changed since the mid 1970’s. And so the demand pressures on commodities should not have significantly changed either. So if it is not a new era of supercycle demand growth and supply restraint, what has led to such a high amplitude and long duration bull market in commodities in this cycle. My answer is speculation – nothing more. And speculation on an unimaginable scale."

"http://www.venerosoassociates.net/Reserve%20Management%... "

[malaise]

13. It's big business across the globe

People are making a lot of money selling this stuff to scrap metal companies who are shipping it to India and China. We had to introduce serious penalties here. These morons are even taking metal railing of bridges and endangering people to get rich the easy way.

Here's a snip from a local article

THE purchasing of stolen scrap metal is one of the most serious problems facing Jamaica right now. It is a matter that should be dealt with severely by the government because, unless harsh measures are imposed, the racket is going to continue and the record price at which scrap metal is sold on the international market will continue to increase.

Industry, Investment and Commerce Minister Karl Samuda said last week that the theft of scrap metal for export has reached crisis proportions. The racket could cause serious damage to the infrastructure of our country and economy. We were informed recently that parts of a bridge were stolen from a warehouse, so were street railings, house grills and fences. Motor vehicles, old and new, were stolen, cut up and the parts sold as scrap iron to exporters, apparently without any questions asked. Indeed, anything made out of metal is at risk, including dug-out window frames.

The National Water Commission has been faced with theft of cables, motors, valves, manhole covers and pieces of water supply and waste water infrastructure, resulting in unplanned disruptions in service to some customers in many instances. Open manholes pose a health and public safety problem. The most cruel blow by thieves was the slashing and stealing of telephone cables in order to get the copper for export. This has affected business and family relations. In the Stony Hill area, the cables have been cut and stolen twice in five days from the same location. The same thing is happening in other areas. Replacing the stolen items is very expensive.
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