We're now getting into contract law, you really don't want to open that can of worms. I don't get paid to deal with that shit anymore, our discussion is over.
Spare me your lawyering bullshit. The question isn't framed as a legal one, but one of blame. That's in the thread title itself. This is about morality, not legality.
I don't care about complications of bankruptcy, financing, considerations of what is best as a matter of social engineering, or convoluted digressions into apologetic observations of human behavior & decisionmaking mapped out by academics. This is as basic as anything can be. It's so straightforward that a child could grasp it. Once this is acknowledged, we can move on to more complicated considerations of what is ideal as a matter of governance.
Because to deny the undeniably basic heart of the matter is the first step down a slippery slope that undermines any foundation of reason. What's next? So lawmakers pass laws that make it practically impossible to prosecute shoplifters. Shoplifters steal. Stores can't protect themselves, so they close. Now the service is gone, meaning consumers and shopkeepers alike suffer, and who is at fault? Some jackass out there will argue it's the stores because these types hate any corporation with wealth, and will find a way to blame high prices, or something something capitalism with a sob story about how the shoplifters had no choice because of their inherited conditions. You'll blame the lawmakers stating it was the laws they passed that led to an irresolvable situation resulting in the impasse.
But the obvious answer is the simplest one. While their kind might be inevitable, the people at fault for the fallout from theft always have been, and always will be
thieves. Because the unspoken contract between shopkeeper and shopper is fundamentally the same as it is between borrower and lender even if the logistics of exchange are typically more immediate. If you take something, you agree to give something in return. If you take it, and you don't, what are you? TLDR: