That's because the power wasn't formally available until Obama signed the bill in to law. Obama declared war on the nation, he is a traitor!

All governments are amoral, self-serving monopolies. They are neither good or evil, they just do what benefits them. What Wornstrum shows is that the Chinese government isn't "evil." It's just "self-serving," no different from the US government.

True. There are anarcho-capitalists. I think Acolyte is one. Basically, they believe the state a wicked monopoly on force, and functions like justice and protection would be better provided in a free-market system. Acolyte praised Robert Nozick's idea of protection agencies, hehe.

Of course, I don't buy any of it for a second. Although, it would be funny to take Acolyte's citizenship away and let him buy protection from the state - or the mafia - if he so chooses.

Flint,

The point is that demand, overall, responds very little due to an increase in price. Some will be compelled to seek treatment, yes, but that's one reason why the demand curve is not perfectly inelastic.

And, are our treatment and prevention efforts really outpacing new arrivals in the market? If we are then kudos. But regardless, price increases on drugs generally cause increases in drug crime.

Zarf,
The problem is that those two variables aren't necessarily related. The cartels are hurting right now, however the prices have skyrocketed. What's replacing the cartels are highly mobile, small gang-like cells.

As for what I would prefer. I prefer more druggies and less crime than less druggies and more crime.

And Flint ignores the allmighty supply/demand graph.

Gotta love social conservatives .

Flint,

Here is the tinypic URL where I uploaded a proof for you on why criminalizing drugs is foolish.

http://oi40.tinypic.com/6g8rk6.jpg

Actually, Obama is a product of very corrupt times. Impeachment isn't good enough. I want the military to restore freedom and stain the marble floors of the capitol with the blue blood of our would-be aristocrats.

Yell,

Except decriminalization and price discrimination are very different. The central point of decriminalization is that people should be able to make free market decisions, and the other arguments are rebuttals to prohibitionists who want it criminalized. On the other hand, price discrimination is an act of making free choices. Although price discrimination is bad in a monopoly, the prostitution market is monopolistic competition by its very nature.

dpenguins,

You have to remember that both Dennis Hof (owner of cat house), and the documentary producers are motivated by their own agendas. Neither sides you mentioned represent the majority of prostitutes, and neither can be counted on for objectivity.

There is no doubt that there is a dark side to prostitution. However, the dark side is mostly limited to street prostitution. Street prostitution is extremely dangerous, so there is some need for protection. These pimps, however, have incentive to drug the women in to dependency. Not all prostitution works this way, however. Even before the internet, many prostitutes were self-employed and advertised in the phone book or they worked through an escort agency. With the internet, self-employment is even easier. They can have their own webpage or post advertisements online etc. Although some pimps have moved their business online, market pressures actually favor self-employment more than ever. The result is that pimping is on the decline.

So you can't look at the glamorous Moonlite BunnyRanch or dark street corner to understand prostitution. You have to understand its market conditions. Understanding them, it becomes clear why it's difficult to criminalize, and why attempting to do so is stupid. For example, prostitutes have created black lists for bad clients, and there are specific websites they advertise from. Without those tools, prostitution will become much more dangerous for the women working independently. Moreover, criminalization does not give prostitutes the incentive to report abuse to law enforcement.

Finally, trafficking and forced prostitution happen, but those cases can be separated from the women who are working independently. We do the same for any business. There are cases of slavery in agriculture, but that is not reason to outlaw it.

Purin has admitted to worshiping Derrida, the titan of real life trolls. Even Noam Chomsky said as much about Derrida. It's now become obvious that he is trolling us with "deconstruction."

I really don't like ignore lists. In the years I have been on IC, I have yet to find anyone bizarre enough to deserve it. But Purin does.

/ignore Purin

I agree. Eliminate lifetime pensions and other generous benefits, and then we can talk about raising teacher's pay.

> ~Wornstrum~ wrote:

> > Justinian I wrote:

> Global warming is obviously false. However, there is climate change, except it's global cooling. Next ice age coming up!

And what evidence do you have to support this theory?>

Over the past ten years, average local temperatures have a pattern of dropping.

Zarf,

Sometimes good/evil twins think alike .