In Theories of Surplus Value somewhere, Marx has a discussion, very witty,of
how the criminal is productive of crime, gives a stimulus to industry in the
form of encouraging innovation in locks, offers employment for cops and
jailers, and the like. --jks
>Yoshie wrote>>At the
>same time, the wars on crimes & drugs have made costs of living
>higher (& lowered standards of living) for an increasing number of
>people, since fines, court costs, lawyer fees, bail bonds, etc. must
>be paid & prisoners can't contribute to household incomes (through
>regular or unofficial jobs) & instead have to be supported by their
>families. In short, fighting against the criminal justice system has
>become a part of daily necessities for the poor, but this fact is
>ignored when economists discuss "standard budgets" & "official
>poverty lines," I believe.
>
>Yoshie
>
>*******************************
>
>And of course lot's of the above [gov. purchases of guns, concrete etc. for
>prisons, police cars, new courthouses yaddah yaddah] shows up as GDP growth
>too. Yummy!
>
>Ian
>
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
