I got a call from a friend of mine in South Carolina the other day.

His house had just been broken into.

And the vandals weren’t looking for wedding rings or computers or TVs.

No, they were after the copper wiring and pipes in his basement.

That’s how desperate people are getting in this economy.

According to Reuters, “once-proud homes coast-to-coast are being stripped for copper, aluminum, and brass by thieves.”

Metals, you see, are at an all-time high.

And when people’s homes are being foreclosed upon, or when their values drop threw the floor, the “copper and other metals used in plumbing, heating systems and telephone lines are now more valuable” than the homes themselves, Reuters notes.

This is so messed up it’s not even funny.

Nor is it funny that 28 million Americans are now on food stamps.

And yet the former CEO of Bear Stearns gets an extra $50 million from the government-engineered bailout.

Meanwhile, citizens need to get guard dogs for the pipes and wiring in their basement.

That’s America, circa 2008.