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Marx called religion the opiate of the masses (though there is more context to what he meant). Poor people lost religion and found....opioids. Religion offered hope of another life. We can empirically see what post-Christian America looks like. A stadium of overdoes a year.
Factories closed. Towns fell. You know what saved a lot of small towns? Prisons. Small towns began competing to become the home of a new prison. (One reason decriminalization arguments don’t land is because crimes are prisons are jobs.)
Whenever you talk about poverty, people jump in to remind you it’s worse elsewhere. Why? Because poverty isn’t something we’re supposed to notice in America. It’s the forbidden topic.
And votes too. Prisoners count toward the population total of towns. Plus they can’t vote so it’s creates a small power center that is easily controlled by a few.
And why did the factories close? Because our politicians were duplicitous and sold us out for “globalism”, both parties were complicit and nobody stood up for the American worker. I too lived this story, but out West.
Camden, Philly, Patterson, and Newark got wrecked by globalization and these places still haven't recovered. I learned all I needed to know about human nature when that happened. I was 5. You can't forget that level of full spectrum violence.
Mike, thank you for your openness & honesty here. Max Keiser too has been talking about the “Prison Industrial Complex in the USA” for the past 10 years.
We had a Chrysler plant in my town. It was where the "wealthy" families' dads worked... making money people would turn their nose up at out here in CA. The plant is gone now. I wouldn't trade having grown up low-income in "flyover" country for anything.
Spot on! I work at one in central Illinois and people don’t scoff at those jobs. They’re the best thing around here. The demand for those jobs is so high the place is packed with bachelors degrees.
I live in a small town in upstate New York. We had two state prison. One of the two state prisons closed, in hindsight it was probably for the best for many reasons.
I did not grow up poor. But l was poor after I flunked out of college until 4 years later I got a job
Mike this is so based keep it going
In my small town in Washington we have a juvenile detention center. Between that, the k-12 school, and the grocery store that’s basically the economy.
I live in a small town & have 8 prisons near by... Huge money maker...
The court/prison industry is the bane of America
Prison industrial complex
“Capitalism doesn’t need unemployed inner city youth. The wealthy would be better served if they simply disappeared. However, direct genocide is no longer a viable strategy. The alternative is to build prisons and cordon off where the underclass lives.” — Erik Olin Wright
I'm from upstate NY. Except for the $$ city people bring up our economy looks like a bomb went off. Nothing but poverty except for teachers and police in my hometown.
Absolutely right about this one, though. If [your] oppression (by incarceration) means my [wallet] stays thick, I'm gonna look the other way... Those 'small town' folks are not stupid, even if it is immoral.
Seems a small consolation at best. Usually... More poverty = higher crime rates. Although it is argued criminality begets poverty - the connection is there. Rather see people at a job rather than forced to pursue some sort of illegal hustle.
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