May 20, 2007

  • "Free Market" Madness

    I've just finished reading the book above.  The author also wrote Fast Food Nation.  Here's what it says on the cover of Reefer Madness:

    "Sex, Drugs,
    and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. 
    What happens in the black market is worth examining because of the way
    fortunes are made there, lives are often ruined there, and the vicissitudes of
    the law can deem one man a gangster or a chief executive (or both).  If the market does indeed embody the sum of
    all human wishes, then the secret ones are just as important as the ones that
    are openly displayed."

    The author explores three areas of America's "underground economy" - marijuana, migrant workers, and pornography - and the interaction in each case between the law, the economics, and the human impact on those who engage in them.  Here's how he concludes his section on migrant workers:

    "Driving back to my motel that
    night, I thought about the people of Orange County, one of the richest counties
    in the nation – big on family values, yet bankrupt from financial speculation,
    unwilling to raise taxes to pay for their own children’s education, unwilling
    to pay off their debts, whining about the injustice of it, and blaming all
    their problems on illegal immigrants. 
    And I thought about Francisco, their bogeyman, their scapegoat, working
    ten hours a day at one of the hardest jobs imaginable, and sleeping on the ground
    every night, for months, so that he could save money and send it home to his parents."

    "We have been told for years to bow
    down before ‘the market’.  We have placed
    our faith in the laws of supply and demand. 
    What has been forgotten, or ignored, is that the market rewards only
    efficiency.  Every other human value gets
    in its way.  The market will drive wages
    down like water, until they reach the lowest possible level.  Today that level is being set not in Washington
    or New York or Sacramento
    but in the fields of Baja California
    and the mountain villages of Oaxaca.  That level is about five dollars a day.  No deity that men have every worshipped is
    more ruthless and more hollow than the free market unchecked; there is no reason
    why shantytowns should not appear on the outskirts of every American city.  All those who now consider themselves
    devotees of the market should take a good look at what is happening in California.  Left to its own devices, the free market
    always seeks a work force that is hungry, desperate, and cheap – a work force
    that is anything but free."

    - pages 107-108

    There's a passage at the very end of the book, where the author more or less summarizes all he's learned, that I'd love to post for your edification.  But it's quite long, and I know you blog readers have relatively short attention spans.    I may just have to commend you to your own reading of Reefer Madness.

    Thanks for reading my humble posts.  God bless you.

Comments (34)

  • Leave it to you to open "all eyes & ears"
    and we know half our Country is walking and sleeping
    with blinders on.We believe what the media spits out at
    us, without ever looking around for ourselves.
    Yes I know I need to read this book...but I am also wondering
    about the solution? iS there REALLY one?

  • I hear you, John.I understand Francisco, and all that he holds dear.

  • That was extremely well put, and something I've suspected myself for some time now.

  • i believe teddy beer may have co-authored it,,,, or at least he is conspiring to try to get it passed,,,,, the 500 billion dollars required from the illegal aliens should tell you he has a hand in it.  the girl,,,,hahahahaha,,,, i dunno,,,,, just a gif i ripped off a site somewhere well over a year ago,,,,,,, i dunno where one similar could be found,,,,, actually they are all around us.  just have to test the waters.

    your post,,,,,,,,,,hahahahahahaha,,,,, another author gathering all his information inside the sandbox without looking outside it for possible reasons why the sandbox even exists.  i wont call it propaganda,,,,, i will call it inability to reason.

    not that any of it isnt true,,,, it is probably all true,,,,, thats not the point.  the point is why.

    low wages, your shanty towns, the marijuana,,,, all of it,,,,, i have often said,,,, to make illegal is to relinquish control.  there are mexicans who are going to come here to work, there are people who are gonna smoke some dope,,,,, or worse.  there are people who are going to do anything and everything imaginable and some unimaginable.   altho some things need to be illegal,,,, like theft,,,, murder,,,, rape,,,, obviously. . . things like marijuana should be in limbo,,,, not legal,,,, not illegal,,,,, you should be able to freely possess and use it,,,, you should not be able to freely possess heroin or cocaine,,,,,, but you should be able to use it free.  supplied by the government,,,,, to those who feel they need it. (addicts)  the marijuana also should be free,,,,distributed by the government,,,,,, it would cost nothing,,,,,,, and far far less than nothing since all the prisons could then be closed.  no one would be breaking into your house to steal your belongings to support their habit.

    if it were legal for mexicans to come here and work,,,,, their wages would go up,,,,, because if it were legal,,,,, they would not work for substandard wages,,,,,,, they would do their job,,,,, they would return home,,,,,, mexicans do not want to immigrate here,,,,,that is a known fact by me,,,,,,, i have been interviewing them over an 8 year period.

    i could go on and on about the sandbox,,,,,,, but if you will stop and think about it,,,,, you will recognize it.   it is constructed of politics and tax and spend schemes.

  • ps,,,,, my wife,,,,, works 6 days a week in a hospital in nuevo laredo,,,,,, she makes around $40 a week,,,,, you may have noticed i ran down to mexico yesterday,,,,, one of the purposes of my visit was to pay her rent and her electric bill,,,,, that way,,,,, her $40 can go toward buying food for her family.  she,,,, like all mexicans do,,,,, chose her family over me,,,,, and with her $40 a week,,,,, she tries to take care of her mom, dad, and several brothers and sisters,,,,, hahahahahaha,,,,,,, thats too many people in the house for me,,,,, that among other reasons,,,,,the reggaetonrapper on top of the list,,,,, is why i am no longer in mexico.  but altho i may leave,,,,, i dont abandon.

  • i also paid her bill at the little mom and pop store next door,,,,, i do that all the time too,,,,, her money is for real groceries.  her oldest son,,,, is living in an old car out back of somebodys house somewhere in laredo trying to make money washing cars to send back to his mom to help.  he swims back and forth across the river,,,,, i spent several years trying to import all 3,,,,, her and her two sons,,,,, altho it is not publicly known,,,,,, you cannot legally import your family from mexico,,,,, i did not know that at the time and went to the trouble to fill out all the forms and send in all the fees,,,,,,,,, hahahahahahahahahaha,,,, that has not been possible to accomplish for years,,,,, and now,,,, her two sons are both over 18 and it is even less possible as they are no longer considered dependents.

    mexico is a mess,,,,, the us is a mess,,,,,,, its not your fault,,,,,,, its not my fault,,,,,, the fault belongs to teddy beer,,,,, and if you have not guessed by now,,,,, when i refer to teddy beer,,,,, i am referring maybe to him,,,,,, i also use his name as racial slur against all our legislators,,,,,jr is also teddy beer.

  • kind of like,,,,, mud,,,,, your name is mud,,,,,,, referring to the kindly dr. mud,,,,,, whose last name may have actually contained 2 d,s  but i forget.

  • i apologize here for not having all my thoughts in one basket and therefore making numerous comments.

  • hahahahaha,,,,, sorry again,,,,, then i read your comment on the newest post,,,,,,,, i think (as far as nuevo laredo goes) it is quietening down,,,, i even heard juego juego opened back up.  (a little casino there)  and a friend of mines brother hit a $18,000 dollar jackpot on a $100 peso machine there,,,,,, i think they are still,,,,, and will be for a while if not forever,,,,, shy of some tourists there,,,,,  i did see a couple walking back across the international bridge as i was leaving mexico yesterday afternoon.

  • That book sounds a lot better than the movie of the same (at least the first half) name.

  • ryc: *blush* thanks. and i'll try not to do that. :)

  • Sounds like an interesting book. I'll have to read it sometime.

  • The book does sound interesting.

  • True true. I have a very short attention span when it comes to reading others' blogs. What did you say? Eh? Oh yeah. The book. Sounds interesting if I could ever sit down long enough to ... sorry what? I caught some sex on TV there and... eh? What was I doing. Oh yeah. Blog...

  • I've been discussing things along this line with my SIL; this sounds like a good book for us to get.

  • The title alone wouldn't have grabbed my attention, but your post has. I'll look for it.

  • I think that this post is well written and not too long at  all.I would  be interested in reading the conclusions for the marijuana and pornography also.
     

  • There are just too many good books waiting for me to read them. Maybe that will be my task for this summer.  Study in the ams and then take a good book somewhere and READ for ONE hour a day, just one measly hour.  I love what this guy has to say.  How do you balance the profit motive and give everyone a fair shake at a decent life?  How do you keep Francisco from sleeping on the floor for $5 a day? 

  • Thanks for the post.  I'm pretty sure I won't read that book, even though I'm sure it would be interesting.  I don't have the energy to get riled up about such huge problems, or the interest in doing so.  His conclusion:  "Be angry... Be very very angry."?  For those of us who have blog attention deficits, what can we do in a kaizen way on a daily basis that will help these problems?  Stop buying porn and marijuana?  ok.  Give Francisco citizenship, so that his employer can't afford to pay him anymore?  ok.  What next?

  • All true, of course, and fair.  What other option does the author suggest?  That all of society be floated on the backs of the efficient, the working, the ingenious.  In this example,  Fransisco will, eventually, be the only one employed, and is the only one who deserves to be employed.  The societies reliant on a false base (the bankrupt and self-delusioned) cannot stand for long.

    Thank you for pandering to my short attention span.  I need it today.  I was going to say something else but I've forgotten what it was.....

  • It's always good to have a light shone onto the underbelly of our societies. Seen and sunseen, truth or lies, appearance and reality. It is possible to close our eyes to human suffering and give it another name; IA, black market workers and so on. Thank you for illumintaing the situation. I shall try and get hold of this title.

    Tomesara.

  • How sad it is that mammon drives so many of men's souls. I intend to change that as best I can.
    -DI Edifice

  • You converting to watcher only now? 

  • ryc: Pardon?

  • Very interesting.  I'm going to have to purchase that book.

  • It's been, what...months? Way to long!! I've been through the ups, downs, and all arounds. My faith, or lack there of at times, has been tested and faltered, only to be revived again. How is everyone....the lovely Melissa? And yourself, how have you been? Hopefully well. I see your still posting quite intriguing topics. I wonder what Hedgehog thinks about this. Sometimes I miss all of that fun we had. But, mostly I'm glad that the anger and dialogue is no longer there.

    I'm doing well and still running. I still attend Church and am still greatly disappointed by the Church. I still don't like Christians very much though I am one. Actually, nothing much has changed. Hopefully I'll stick around a little and read more. Take care, Scott.

  • You might enjoy Taras Grescoe's The Devil's Picnic. 
    ryc on Butshebites - Bali.  Dominica.

    The last line of your blog made me

  • I just did a lot of reading and writing and thinking about globalism and corporate power. Free trade has made it easier for oligarchies to put a lock on the market, and they are busy transforming what was once paid in wages into profits. Globalism is leveling the field - bringing up workers in China, Singapore and Indonesia, but bringing down workers in the developing country. Someday we might meet in the middle. Did we ever stop to think that choosing to buy cheap imported shoes at a big box might mean that someday we will be able to afford to buy no other kind?

    The situation is transient, because it is all built on relatively cheap energy and the transport of goods all over the globe. If the peak oil theorists are correct, we are going to be seeing some big changes - in our lifetimes. Even the lifetimes of 50-somethings like me.

  • Just blame it all on California!    One thing for sure, the market does work.  Whether it works truly well or not is the question.  I guess it works for those on top but not for those on the bottom.  The "market" is why shirts, shoes and microsoft support are no longer "made in the usa."  Interesting topic for sure.

    tim

  • RYC:  Thank you for your comment. And yes, I have thought that perhaps she has viewed me in this way.   In the past I have loaned her money.  It's just at the particular time I told her "no" I genuinely had no extra cash to loan.  She too takes vacations and gets massages, etc. However, what one does with her own money is her own business, no? 

  • sounds like an interesting book :)

  • Sounds like a heckuva good read, John. It is now on my list.

    RYC; Then I suggest singing your own songs! Keep the voices "inside" your head!  
     
    Peace
     
    Scott

  • This is interesting John....

    ~Namaste

  • Since drugs are mentioned I thought I'd point out that there is no chemical basis to what drugs are schedule 1 ( most dangerous).  It seems as if the ones that are easy to grow get the worst ranking as if they might cut into the profits of pharmaceutical companies or Coors beer.  That is a very funny comment up there from OldManGordon about no longer affording to pay Francisco.  Let's face it, the ultra wealthy aren't going to do that labor so Francisco will always have a job.  Of course, we can stop letting our tax structure reward the employers.  That's an easy solution.

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