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Money. It's about who makes/takes the money. Generally, any mass scale stupidity that seemingly makes zero sense boils down to specific people making money. Bi

Money. It's about who makes/takes the money. Generally, any mass scale stupidity that seemingly makes zero sense boils down to specific people making money. Bigger stupidity equals big financial gains

AussieWog93 5y ago
Not disagreeing with you in the general sense, but in this case there's a medical marijuana industry spending a small fortune on lobbying with (as far I'm aware) no well-funded opposition.
e40 5y ago
Disagree. The money made from taxes will for sure replace the lost revenue from incarcerating more folks. Also, the south is ruled by Republicans, mostly, and they're all about denial. No abortions and no birth control. No public assistance--there is some, but they always seek to minimize it. No affirmative action. No BLM, since they're about All Lives Matter. No vaccines. No mask mandates. No reliable power grids. No lack of corruption at the state level (FL is off the charts corrupt... the people being bribed with zero state taxes). They're generally, bootstrap yourself into wealth like they did, even they they had privilege on their side; poor people need not apply to the American Dream. Curiously, they will ask the Federal government for a handout when they run into trouble, usually due to natural disasters, like flooding.
- jacob2484 5y ago
  And yet people continue to move to the South and out of liberal disasters where it's all tax, tax, tax and waste money.
  - amcoastal 5y ago
    70% of the countries GDP were in counties Biden won. 90% of counties that voted for Trumps population shrunk since 2010.
    - kortilla 5y ago
      > 70% of the countries GDP were country’s* Regardless, that’s a stat for morons to parrot (e.g. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-v...). A county that Biden won 60/40 that produces $1 billion GDP is not $1 billion of GDP support for Biden. It’s 600 mil Biden and 400 mil Trump, and that’s under the charitable interpretation that rich people are just as likely to vote Democrat as they are Republican.
  - ojbyrne 5y ago
    You’re incorrect. People are moving to urban centers, many in the south, all of which meet your your criteria of “tax, tax, tax and waste money.” According to the conservative lens, which doesn’t really grasp the concept of “per capita.” Meanwhile vastly subsidized rural America, much of it in the south, is dying, because the wealth producers and job creators in those tax tax tax waste money jurisdictions are tired of sending money to people who complain about having money sent to them.
- kortilla 5y ago
  > No reliable power grids. Texas is the only independent power grid (to which I assume your ignorance refers). The states that people refer to as the south are all actually part of the eastern grid.
thatcat 5y ago
No, there was a review for decrim in TN this year that clearly stated they are losing 2m of state budget per year enforcing these laws and it still failed 6-3 in state judicial committee. It seems like it is maintained so they can continue using selective enforcement to punish people political adverse to their "conservative" ideologies arbitrarily.
- Talanes 5y ago
  That's 2m out of the state's money though, not money they've personally lost. If the people they're paying that 2m to happen to be influential in the election, it can still be helpful. Police endorsements are sought after by most politicians, you have to be very far left to not consider it a boon.
  - thatcat 5y ago
    It's not like the police would stop endorsing them if they decriminalized though. They have to support someone and it really can't go much further right than it currently is. Well over 2m in federal funds are provided for counties in the appalachian high intensity drug trafficking area organized by a group called the appalachian regional commission and subgroup substance abuse advisory council. Those funds are then used to sponsor manufacturing industries moving to the area and keep up a substance abuse treatment grift that includes a lot of cannabis users. Often the punishment for minor drug crimes is supervised probation for a year, including the requirement of full time employment and inability to leave the area (which is known to be under performing economically as that is the criteria for ARC intervention) [0]. This creates the additional benefit of a cheap labor pool for the sponsored companies. The entire Appalachian region (which somehow includes Mississippi and Alabama) is given 235m to achieve the goal of retaining or creating 26k jobs (9k per job). So yea, I guess 2m state budget is nothing compared to propping up several industries in the poorest counties using some people who are essentially enslaved for cannabis use to prop up their success metrics. It is easier to extract productivity from people using a non-addictive substance than actual hard drug users or alcoholics. [0]https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FY2022-Congressional-Budget-Justification.pdf https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FY2022-Congre...

AussieWog93 5y ago

Not disagreeing with you in the general sense, but in this case there's a medical marijuana industry spending a small fortune on lobbying with (as far I'm aware) no well-funded opposition.

e40 5y ago

Disagree. The money made from taxes will for sure replace the lost revenue from incarcerating more folks. Also, the south is ruled by Republicans, mostly, and they're all about denial. No abortions and no birth control. No public assistance--there is some, but they always seek to minimize it. No affirmative action. No BLM, since they're about All Lives Matter. No vaccines. No mask mandates. No reliable power grids. No lack of corruption at the state level (FL is off the charts corrupt... the people being bribed with zero state taxes). They're generally, bootstrap yourself into wealth like they did, even they they had privilege on their side; poor people need not apply to the American Dream. Curiously, they will ask the Federal government for a handout when they run into trouble, usually due to natural disasters, like flooding.

jacob2484 5y ago
And yet people continue to move to the South and out of liberal disasters where it's all tax, tax, tax and waste money.
- amcoastal 5y ago
  70% of the countries GDP were in counties Biden won. 90% of counties that voted for Trumps population shrunk since 2010.
  - kortilla 5y ago
    > 70% of the countries GDP were country’s* Regardless, that’s a stat for morons to parrot (e.g. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-v...). A county that Biden won 60/40 that produces $1 billion GDP is not $1 billion of GDP support for Biden. It’s 600 mil Biden and 400 mil Trump, and that’s under the charitable interpretation that rich people are just as likely to vote Democrat as they are Republican.
- ojbyrne 5y ago
  You’re incorrect. People are moving to urban centers, many in the south, all of which meet your your criteria of “tax, tax, tax and waste money.” According to the conservative lens, which doesn’t really grasp the concept of “per capita.” Meanwhile vastly subsidized rural America, much of it in the south, is dying, because the wealth producers and job creators in those tax tax tax waste money jurisdictions are tired of sending money to people who complain about having money sent to them.
kortilla 5y ago
> No reliable power grids. Texas is the only independent power grid (to which I assume your ignorance refers). The states that people refer to as the south are all actually part of the eastern grid.

thatcat 5y ago

No, there was a review for decrim in TN this year that clearly stated they are losing 2m of state budget per year enforcing these laws and it still failed 6-3 in state judicial committee. It seems like it is maintained so they can continue using selective enforcement to punish people political adverse to their "conservative" ideologies arbitrarily.

Talanes 5y ago
That's 2m out of the state's money though, not money they've personally lost. If the people they're paying that 2m to happen to be influential in the election, it can still be helpful. Police endorsements are sought after by most politicians, you have to be very far left to not consider it a boon.
- thatcat 5y ago
  It's not like the police would stop endorsing them if they decriminalized though. They have to support someone and it really can't go much further right than it currently is. Well over 2m in federal funds are provided for counties in the appalachian high intensity drug trafficking area organized by a group called the appalachian regional commission and subgroup substance abuse advisory council. Those funds are then used to sponsor manufacturing industries moving to the area and keep up a substance abuse treatment grift that includes a lot of cannabis users. Often the punishment for minor drug crimes is supervised probation for a year, including the requirement of full time employment and inability to leave the area (which is known to be under performing economically as that is the criteria for ARC intervention) [0]. This creates the additional benefit of a cheap labor pool for the sponsored companies. The entire Appalachian region (which somehow includes Mississippi and Alabama) is given 235m to achieve the goal of retaining or creating 26k jobs (9k per job). So yea, I guess 2m state budget is nothing compared to propping up several industries in the poorest counties using some people who are essentially enslaved for cannabis use to prop up their success metrics. It is easier to extract productivity from people using a non-addictive substance than actual hard drug users or alcoholics. [0]https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FY2022-Congressional-Budget-Justification.pdf https://www.arc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FY2022-Congre...