But thanks to Reaganomics, prison turned to profits

Cause free labor's the cornerstone of US economics

Cause slavery was abolished, unless you are in prison

You think I am bullshittin? Then read the 13th Amendment

Involuntary servitude and slavery it prohibits

That's why they givin' drug offenders time in double digits

- Killer Mike, Reagan

> Cause free labor's the cornerstone of US economics

Yeah, no.

> Cause free labor's the cornerstone of US economics

The lyric is alluding to the fact that the country's foundation was built on 100s of years of free labor.

The practice of exporting worthless printed paper in exchange for valuable labor intensive goods is also what that lyric is pointing to.

American slavery, a model that has evolved and now encompasses much of the globe.

Keeping a large % of the world and "undesirable" domestic population poor, at gun point if necessary, is in America's national economic interest.

You need to argument when you negate someone's opinion.

Do I also need to argue someone's opinion of the earth being flat?

So what you're saying is that statement you negate is based on your opinion and not on any factual information?

What I'm saying is that not every opinion deserves to be taken seriously enough to merit an argument. There are plenty of opinions which deserve mockery and contempt.

> There are plenty of opinions which deserve mockery and contempt.

Such as your opinion.

So, you do agree with my opinion.

Yes, kinda? I mean, we basically replaced slavery by machine work, no? Its "free labor" as machines do not try to escape, and are fed with stuff we find underground so they don't compete for our food.

I don't think slavery would have been abolished without the industrial revolution.

> Its "free labor" as machines do not try to escape,

That is most certainly not the usual interpretation of free labor.

The overwhelming majority of slaves in the US were field hands in plantations growing cash crops. How exactly did rudimentary agricultural mechanization around the time of the American Civil War in any way precipitate abolition?

I think it's very unlikely to be profitable. 11B/1M incarcerated (from the article) means a gross product of 11k per person. I would argue that while that might be enough to sustain one prisoner's marginal cost to the system, it doea not look high enough to sustain fixed costs of the prison system.

> I think it's very unlikely to be profitable.

You're right, it's not profitable for the government (although it probably is profitable for some private prisons who also receive money from the government).

"The U.S. spends $81 billion a year on mass incarceration, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and that figure might be an underestimate."[1]

1: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/the-u-s-spends-billions...

Sick rap, but $11bn is hardly a rounding error in US economics.

A larger issue is the prison industrial complex, not the involuntary servitude within it

Alex Blake : No. Nothing's bothering me.

Dr. Spencer Reid : Something's bothering you. I can always tell when you're bothered because you whisper lyrics to yourself. Hip-hop specifically. I thought it was odd at first, but then I remembered your dissertation was on the fluidity of metaphor. You seem to have a particular fondness for Nas.

Alex Blake : Wow. How did you know?

Dr. Spencer Reid : Morgan made me listen to him when we started working together. He said anybody that can't quote Illmatic is ignorant. So, do you want to talk about it?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2757560/characters/nm1131557

Repped for Jedi Mind Tricks, haven’t listened to them since high school. Always thought their lyrics were so profound and in a league of its own.