Reply #6: Yes, sadly, there are "for-profit prisons" [View All]

We now have not only the military-industrial complex but also a prison-industrial complex. Lobbyists for these groups have a vested interest in (for example) keeping our draconian drug laws in place -- because the more people they can put in prison, the more profits they can make.

And other private companies can contract to have work done by prisoners at $.10 - $.30 per hour, making our objections to China's "slave labor" practices laughable.

Speaking of China, just remember this: although they have more than 4 times our population, they have fewer people in jail than we do. No I'm not talking just percentage, although that is also true: they have fewer people in prison, in absolute numbers, than we do.

Oh, and our drug laws are applied in the most draconian fashion for people of color, imagine that.

And now we have a whole market segment devoted to keeping that status quo firmly in place.

This country has lost its soul. Its purpose is to enrich corporate coffers and screw the rest of us. It divides its own population against each other, and profits from it. And our so-called leaders are complicit.