Despite low crime rates, the 1% are spending extravagantly on high-tech security for their homes. Is income inequality making everyone jittery? Is it something else? From Lauren A.E. Shuker’s recent WSJ piece:

“‘We had the worst housing market of all time, but the security business grew right through it,’ says Jeff Sprague, a managing partner who follows the industry at Vertical Research Partners.

There’s no single factor behind the drive to fortify. Crime rates have largely fallen around the country; the murder rate is half what it was in 1991, and robberies fell 10% in 2010 from the year before. Still, some gate-makers note that the proliferation of personal information on the Internet has increased some owners’ feelings of vulnerability and desire for privacy. Others cite the recent focus on income disparity between America’s rich and poor.”

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“It is said that the people are revolting”: