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Panefully Stupid: KTVU Reports Car Break-Ins Decline, Glass Repair Shops Hardest Hit

Gordon K
Gordon K  |  10:30 PM on June 20, 2026

Ever read something so incredibly, mind-blowingly stupid you have to ask if it's being done on purpose?

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If you never have before, you can now say you did.

Before we get into the righteous ridicule, we have to discuss a French dude named Frédéric Bastiat. We had to look it up, so don't feel bad if you haven't heard of him either. Apparently Bastiat was a very smart economist who, amongst his most well-known writings, came up with the 'broken-window' fallacy.

In short, the fallacy addresses the assumption that if someone unnecessarily breaks someone else's window, it is a net economic gain because the glass repair guy has buy a new pane of glass, putty and take a trip to fix the broken window. The economy grows and (almost) everybody wins! Not so fast, Bastiat retorts. The guy who had his window broken could have used his time and resources to make even bigger contributions in his specialized skill set.

As you will soon see, this little lesson in economic theory is relevant to KTVU Oakland's very silly article.

And there you have it. Are they really lamenting the hit car repair shops will take by the reduction of this type of crime?

Perhaps the writers were looking for that famous New York Times trope: disaster strikes, women and minorities hardest hit. Who knows. But here's a case where mockery and education intersect.

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You expect a person who make a living writing things to read as well?

Bastiat, as told to Jon Gabriel. 

Gary Larson called this years ago.

As did dril.

Are they, though? KTVU also produced this banger a few years ago.

Then came the analogies that really held their absurdity to the light

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We'd like this, actually.

Forget it, Daniel, it's Oakland.

They're not sending their best.