Virago, this is billy bullshit Morrison. Remember that time he told us he took down a velociraptor bare fisted?
There's no way that could have happened!
He would have needed at least a sword
No, there isn't. Each involves "right" and "wrong" and each involves the trust of the person you steal from. It think guns story highlights it was the trust of his parents that hurt the most, not the size of the crime. The feeling of guilt is worse than the benefit of spending the money.
More interesting I think is "what should happen now". It seems like the police are just sitting on the money trying to figure out who to give it to that is least risk TO THEM of being sued.
Seems obvious to me - you get both parties in a room and get them to agree amonst themselves a fair arrangement, sign a disclaimer to say they agree and then ensure it gets implemented. Something like - money goes back to owner who then gives a fair chunk of it to the taxi driver as a reward.
Although I have found money in the past and always returned it I would honestly say I might think twice about returning it this time around. If someone dropped a wallet with cash, or some armored truck lost a bag of a banks cash I would return it without a thought. In this case, the person was stupid enough to leave it in the back of a taxi so I guess he doesn't miss the money too much. Chances are the person was a gambler or made the money illegally. I would hold onto the money and if I saw any reports on TV about someone honest losing the money I would find a way to return it otherwise f*8k 'em I have a family to feed. This is my honest opinion at this stage in my life. if I found out the money belonged to a gambler I would not only keep it but laugh about it because I will do something good with the money instead of gambling with it. I might open up a really great NY style pizzeria in HK with that cash lol ! It all boils down to the source of the money. If it belonged to a business or honest person I would return it because my conscience would bother me. if I found out it belonged to someone disreputable then my conscience would be clear and I wouldn't give a damn. The taxi driver may have been worried that the guy was a Triad member and would remember his taxi number or his actions may have been different.
I briefly bought and sold pallets in Europe and many of those transactions are cash simply because of trust issues over quality.
I imagine there are many other types of business where huge quantities of cash are used but certainly in international business, a lot of cash gets carried about.
Most of us are gamblers. HK is full of people gambling on the stock market. Even most of us lost money on our MPF last year because we 'invested' it (gambled)
Some gamblers are actually very sensible people making a +EV investment. For example, poker is a game which has been taken seriously by some guys who would otherwise have done something like a Maths degree, but realised there is money to be made by playing good poker against bad poker players.