Hi everyone!
As I'm sure you've all heard, the Pew Center on the State has released a report that shows that for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison.
The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
The report shows that while one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.
This, together with the fact that the United States have a national defense budget that represent half the world's collected military expenses as well as disposing of the second largest army in the world, makes me wonder:
For the USA to keep its dominance in the world, is what could be viewed as a police state a necessity to keep the American working class in place? And a superiour military force a necessity to keep the rest of the world in place?
The military and keeping people in prison cost an awful lot of money. Therefore, the American dominance in the world economy is really important.
What would happen, do you think, if America lost its dominance in any of these fields? How would that effect any of the other fields? If, for instance, the United States put more money into education systems instead of the prison system, what implications would that have on the economic system? If a change of economic system would mean a lesser need for capital sucked out from the 3rd World and pumped into the United States, how do you think that would effect the military? If you moved subsidies from the military budget to, say, a universal health insurance system, what negative and positive effects would that have on rich and poor Americans or on people in the 3rd World? What do you think the military would say about this?
What do you think of all this?
As I'm sure you've all heard, the Pew Center on the State has released a report that shows that for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison.
The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
The report shows that while one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine.
(AP, CNN.com)
This, together with the fact that the United States have a national defense budget that represent half the world's collected military expenses as well as disposing of the second largest army in the world, makes me wonder:
For the USA to keep its dominance in the world, is what could be viewed as a police state a necessity to keep the American working class in place? And a superiour military force a necessity to keep the rest of the world in place?
The military and keeping people in prison cost an awful lot of money. Therefore, the American dominance in the world economy is really important.
What would happen, do you think, if America lost its dominance in any of these fields? How would that effect any of the other fields? If, for instance, the United States put more money into education systems instead of the prison system, what implications would that have on the economic system? If a change of economic system would mean a lesser need for capital sucked out from the 3rd World and pumped into the United States, how do you think that would effect the military? If you moved subsidies from the military budget to, say, a universal health insurance system, what negative and positive effects would that have on rich and poor Americans or on people in the 3rd World? What do you think the military would say about this?
What do you think of all this?
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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.
The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
--------
They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.