Locking Up Surplus American Labor: Is the U.S. A Light Unto the Nations?
by Seth Sandronsky
“We see an irrational economy that more and more requires prison cells for those who have no chance of finding their way onto employers’ payrolls.”
Does bigger mean better? Yes, for the conventional wisdom on the U.S. economy, the world’s largest in terms of output, or gross domestic product. Thomas Friedman of the NY Times is perhaps the leading voice for this view.Accordingly, citizens of developing nations will prosper if their leaders emulate the U.S. model of growth. Lost a bit in such rhetoric is the fact that the American economy also creates a big labor market surplus. Typically, the likes of Thomas Friedman sidestep this ongoing human tragedy of the grow-or-die U.S. economic model. (more…)
