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.
While the total annihilation of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore probably isn’t a “Black Swan” big enough to trigger a global collapse, it adds potent fuel to several fires in an already fragile global economy.
