and that my friend, is the point of the thread.



well, we have job security, our federal government isnt falling apart, we have a budget surplus, and the censorship attempts have largely been failures because they're led by religious institutions rather than recording companies

we're in a situation where the federal government can do almost nothing, which is pretty much the same as the US government, except the US government actually needs to do something.

and ron paul seems to be the only person who is willing to do what is neccesary, the time for easy solutions has long passed.

the two party system is creating the problem so it can sell its "brand" of solution, just as adolf sold his "brand" of solution to germany after the burning of the reichstag

I'm not exactly arguing with you here, but there is another money angle on the "drug war" that lots of people don't realize, and it's orders of magnitude bigger than private prisons.

The big drug kingpins have one percenter money - hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars. They can't spend that kind of money without somebody wondering where it came from, so they have to launder it. To do that they set up legitimate businesses like car dealerships, factories, retail stores, restaurants, and even (especially) banks. Now, those businesses can make money all on their own sometimes, but that isn't the reason they exist. When those companies start to lose money and should be going bankrupt, the drug kingpin can inject drug money into the company to keep it out of the red, use that money to make it look like the company made a profit, and then take that "profit" back out of the company to end up with money he can actually spend. Of course, he loses some money in this process, but the end result is that he takes a billion dollars of drug money he can't spend and ends up with 750 mil that looks legitimate. Instead of one guy with a billion dollars he can't explain, you end up with a thousand companies that just have to hide 100k each. That's often done by having the kingpin's bank make "unwise" loans to his other companies, which promptly default on the loan. He also has the advantage of the power and political influence that comes from running all those companies and banks.

The important point about all that for the purposes of our discussion is that all of those companies and businesses have real employees who have no idea that they are part of a drug economy. They get up and go to work every day just feeling happy that for some reason their company seems to be surviving well in the bad economy. They all pay taxes. The company pays taxes. Their local politicians can claim credit for high employment in their district. Their local banks are flush with money to loan out for new homes and cars. The super powerful politicians get more tax money to help them gain even more power through social programs that buy votes for them or through building up huge military power. The "campaign fund" bribes from all those quasi-legitimate companies are a nice bonus too.

We all profit from the drug trade in terms of a stronger economy, but there is a high cost. A normal businessman wanting to open up a car dealership would be highly unlikely to decapitate his competition. He wouldn't be too likely to kidnap 12 year old girls to sell to folks who get off by raping, torturing, and murdering them. He would be afraid of losing everything if he got caught breaking any major law. The drug kingpin, who doesn't have to make a profit on his car dealership, can put that legitimate guy out of business every time though, even without resorting to outright violence. The drug kingpin, who is already operating outside the law, will have no qualms about pursuing whatever kind of entertainment he likes from kidnapped sex slaves or anything else since the powerful political types know they need his investments in their economy.

Do a Google search for they skyline of Miami, FL. That entire city was built by investments of drug money. Miami was a sleepy little town before it became a major port for the cocaine trade. That's real money. Imagine a politician who would trade the tax base of Miami, FL for the pittance he would get from legitimate taxation of dope. Private prisons are just a drop in the bucket compared to that.

and thats exactly why the kingpins need to be put out of bussiness.

because normal bussiness owners cannot compete.

it stifles creativity and innovation, which does immeasureable damage to the economy, and it gives those criminals far better access to legitimate bussinesses, and more importantly, the people that trust them.

people are worried about the government monitoring them, what about other people monitoring them? a drug kingpin would have no issues with breaking privacy laws

what if the company that makes your phone is run by a corrupt "puppet" CEO who, as part of his arrangement, puts tracking devices and "backdoor" keyloggers in every phone he sells? or microphones and GPS trackers in every car.

what then of freedom?

the constitution would barely be worth the hemp its written on.

the money from drugs should go to legitimate bussinessmen who are accountable to the law, and accountable to their customers. drugs hurt people, but low quality drugs do far more damage.

legalise, tax and control. drug cartels and black market money are as damaging to a country as heavy meth use is to the individual. want proof? the economy is wasting away while the government is up to its eyeballs in debt. if the drug addict analogy isnt accurate then the cancer patient analogy definetly is.