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Free the nearly three-quarter of a million people in prison on minor drug charges. The White House itself estimates that the economic losses from these folks being in jail are up to $40 billion per year. We need stimulus don’t we? State and county budgets are exploding aren’t they? Or do we want to argue that freeing people from prison would not stimulate “aggregate demand?” Or do we want to argue that we should keep these people in prison because the increase in labor supply would depress wages? If you believe that, then I guess it would have been a good idea to extend World War II indefinitely, just think of all the destruction to wages that resulted from 10+ million previously unemployed people swarmed the shores of the U.S. after the wars ended.

2 Responses to “A Novel Idea for Christmas”

  1. chuck martel says:

    Some of the most repressive tyrannies have extended amnesty to the incarcerated. But not the US.

  2. Rod says:

    I’ve long been a proponent of legalizing marijuana and other drugs, and not because I am a doper myself, but because of the enormous direct and indirect costs that making it illegal imposes upon society. My biggest gripe is that bazillions of dollars go to the lowlife drug cartels.

    I would like to see marijuana completely legalized — don’t make it a state enterprise. If it were not illegal at all, American farmers would make it plentiful and cheap. I can see the Pennsylvania Farmer magazine featuring stories like “Cut Hemp Early for Max THC Jointlage in Your Harvestore.”

    Free the dopers, but keep those Al Qaida guys at Gitmo.

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