What to do with other peoples' money?

[Eki]

They just said on TV that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US has ironically become an "Island of Gulags". They said that in the US, there are over 700 prisoners per 100,000 citizens while for example in Cuba there are just over 200.

Then they showed footage from some neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY and told that half of the residents there lived below the line considered to be the limit people could survive. According to them, that was one of a districts called a "million dollar district". The name is because so many people from that area is in prison that it takes over million dollars to keep them there.

Then some professor said that the US uses prisons instead of welfare, meaning they put people who could be helped with welfare into prisons instead. As an example he named illegal immigrants. In the US they try to hunt them down and put them into prisons, while in Europe they try to find jobs or other help for the illegal immigrants. As a consequence, European countries are motivated to be very careful not to let the illegals sneak into their countries, because otherwise they'd have to pay their stay and welfare. Finally, he added that the US prisons are deliberately kept in an abominable state to use them as a deterrent for illegal immigrants.

So, what do you think? Which is a better way to use other peoples' money, to put and keep people in prisons or to help them out to continue with their lives without having to do crimes?

[anthonyvop]

http://giovanniworld.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/liberal_crap.jpg

[Tazio]

It doesn't matter what I think!
The do-gooders, and terror stricken majority, have talking heads that relieve others of concern by representing those incarcerated as subhuman, and really belong in a leper colony!

[Jag_Warrior]

Because of our "war on drugs", we continue to lock up people for minor drug offenses here. Don't quote me on the percentage, but I believe it's something close to 50% of the prison population. I'm all for locking up smugglers, major dealers and gang members (also crooked bankers, accountants and lawyers... and good luck with that!). But I consider the whole "lock 'em up & throw away the key" mentality of the wingnuts and Evangelicals, when it comes to small quantities of drugs, to be a complete joke and a waste of precious resources. I did read that my girl Sarah Palin may be coming around to the social libertarian point of view on drugs though. I'm not sure if that's because her grandbaby daddy is a stoner or if she has discovered a new philosophy in her recent travels to the outside world.

To demonstrate just what a joke this "war on drugs" is, check out this thread (http://www.motorsportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138951) I recently posted about Wachovia's money laundering operation. Other banks were caught up in it too. But there have been no criminal charges filed, only civil penalties imposed... and happily agreed to by Wachovia's new owner, Wells Fargo. I have seen no stories that name the names of the bankers involved... and there won't be! There's no SERIOUS effort in this country to stem the flow of drugs in or the money out. And Mexico is just shy of being a failed state, so I'm not expecting anything meaningful from them. But the billions of dollars of drug profits are like the elephant in the room that everyone pretends is not there. Let's lock up some Cheech & Chongers though... to the tune of $30-$50 thousand per person per year. That's the tighty righty answer. While the lefties want to keep dumping more money into NEA dominated schools that turn out one class of limp wristed, reality TV show worshipping morons after another.

They're ALL freakin' insane, IMO. And I say that because both of the extremes want to keep doing what's never worked... yet they keep expecting different results. :rolleyes: In the words of my new philosophical hero from Trailer Park Boys: "Boys, I'd say that we're all f'ed!"