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It is true that as of now, prison labor is not, quantitatively speaking, a
main source of profit for the capitalist class in the U.S. But two
points should be kept in mind:
1) It is a growing trend and relatively new. I suspect it will
continue to grow.
2) An important function of coerced
labor is not simply the extra-profits ("superexploitation") that comes from
their labor. It also drives down the wages of the rest of the working class by
forcing them to have to compete with that cheaper labor. The rationale for
eliminating "welfare" in the U.S. was in large part, to save the taxpayers.
However, it also put millions of people in direct competition with regularly
employed workers. It would be interesting to examine just how much money was
saved for the capitalists in taxes (I'll bet not that much) compared to how much
extra profits the capitalist class was able to reap by being able to drive down
(or hold down) the wages of the rest of the working class (I'll guess quite a
lot!).
I suspect that the growing use of prison labor will have that double
benefit for the capitalists and the double damage to the working class.
Alan Spector
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 7:06
AM
Subject: (no subject)
Dear all,
Please don't think me too harsh: while I respect the passion of
exchanges
like that below, in my opinion a bit more precision is required
for any
meaningful work (or discussion with people of different points of
view) to be
advanced:
1) Please define exactly what/who is
meant by the terms such as "police
state", "elites", etc. These are
sociologically and economically meaningless
terms. What is one to
make of a generalisation like "Local police forces are
a part of the
larger world police force"? Such statements are clichés more
than
tools to understanding the world system.
2) On the actual
economic consequences of the current US prison population:
while I
suspect that this industry is substantial, I cannot believe that
privatised prisons or prison labour is a primary driver in $9.255 trillion
(1999 est.) a year economy. For example, if it amounts to a $10
billion a
year industry - which initially sounds HUGE, then it accounts
for %0.11 of
the American economy - about one-tenth of one percent!
Even $10 billion
sounds high to me, but is about the size of the
world's largest management
consulting firm, Accenture, so it is a useful
point of comparison/reference.
Does anyone have DATA?
This is not nit-picking or minimising the suffering involved, it is
about
understanding incentives and drivers so change can indeed take
place.
Rigour is required to engage others and provide
solutions rather than sermons.
Regards,
M Jones
-----Original Message-----
From:
wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu]On
Behalf Of
ecopilgrim@juno.com
Sent: 20 March 2001 16:54
To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
Cc: tcomeau45@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: violent protests
On Sun, 18 Mar 2001 15:49:35 -0500 "Timothy Comeau"
<tcomeau45@hotmail.com> writes:
<Onca again, protests
have occured over globalisation, and the police
have
been accused of
using excessive violence. But as we all know, it's not
just
protests
over globalisation where this occurs: it seems to occur whenever
and
wherever a protest happens in the so called Western world.
What is
going on? How come the cops always seem to overeact? What are
they
being told about left wing protestors?>
With little awareness
that it has happened, the U.S. has become a police
state with our freedoms
increasingly eroded in the name of globalization
which benefits the
elites. Local police forces are a part of the larger
world police
force. In the U.S. 25% of all African American men are now
housed in
prisons; many of them for minor drug infractions which harm no
one except
the user. At the same time, prison business has become 'big
business' as it has become privatised. Prison construction brings in
some money to local economies while at the same time putting the 'bucks'
in private developer's pockets. The prisons also offer other
opportunities for employment and income generating for local communities,
e.g. prisoners must be fed and guarded and both tasks open up avenues for
income generation. It is interesting to note that prison guards
generally make more than do teachers and it costs anywhere from $40,000
to $60,000 annually to house a prisoner -- the same amount that it would
cost to send someone to college for a year. Yet prison incarceration
offers litle or no hope for education or rehabilitation, only punishment
which may not even fit the crime.
Increasingly, large
manufacturers are also using 'prison labor' to
manufacture products
through contracting with prison management to pay
prisoners as little as
$0.50 an hour to work on assembly lines in the
prisons. Thus allowing the
undercutting of costs small businesses must
pay in order to produce the
same products. Prison management says it
must do this in order to
pay for 'housing' its inmates, but as tax payers
foot the bill for prison
upkeep and warehousing, this seems to be
'double-dipping' with the
proceeds lining the pockets of prison
management while at the same time
competing with small business.
One benefit of this practice to
prisoners is that they may acquire skills
training which they previously
have not had access to and which may
permit them outside employment upon
release. But another factor here is
that prisoners, under the 'Three
Strikes Law,' may be serving lifetime
sentences for what could amount to
minor infractions.
Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon the
police force to keep the prisons
full and the prison as a big business
growing and expanding. This can
only be done thru increasing the
numbers of people incarcerated. Since
protestors threaten the
stranglehold of the elites on the economy and
ability to push the American
model forward thru globalization, they
present good targets for
imprisonment also.
And yes, we may see some who
become 'martyrs' like the students at Kent
State who were gunned down
while protesting. But I have also been told
by some of these
protestors that they are willing to lay down their lives
in the name of
freedom and democracy which is seriously being eroded
around the world.
If you read the few valid reports that are available
on the protests
that are increasingly taking place against the WTO, IMF,
WB, you cannot
help but know that the protestors have been demonstrating
peacefully for
the most part -- it is the police force that is becoming
exceedingly
brutal as the protests escalate in number and size.
It is our
duty, as citizens of the world, to seek the truth and to report
it and
support it -- not shy away from it in fear. If we do not, we will
all become enslaved.
marguerite
Marguerite Hampton
Executive Director - Turtle Island Institute
EcoPilgrim@juno.com
http://tii-kokopellispirit.org
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