**
Penal System
The privatization of prisons is wrong on so many levels. Not only is it utterly immoral for some people to profit from other people's incarceration, but it drives an incentive to send more people to prison and for longer terms. That leads to more government spending on prisons (even though they're "private"), more lives ruined needlessly (usually poor minorities), more restrictive laws in our society (victim-less drug crimes with unduly harsh sentences), and more burdens in our society when these 'convicts' get out of prison and can't land good-paying jobs (which in turn leads to more crime). Furthermore, putting prisoners to work for little-or-no pay is akin to slavery.
And to maximize profits, these private prisons need to keep costs down of course. That alone should give you an idea of the conditions within. Again, another plug for Michael Moore's film - there's a segment on the prison system in Norway - it highlights the humane treatment of prisoners which leads to a lower rate of recidivism. And of course, private prisons are outlawed.
Here's a short segment from Democracy Now! which explains why private prisons are a really bad idea: https://www.freespeech.org/video/prisons-profit-under-kasich-ohio-becomes-laboratory-privatizing-public-jails
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These are a few of the industries which many believe should be socialized instead of capitalized. That's not to say that Capitalism is bad - it has its place in most industries. But even in some of those industries, socialism exists for large corporations in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, risk, etc. Look at some companies like Walmart - they pay their workers such low wages that even full-time employees live in poverty and require government assistance.
Bottom line - "Democratic Socialism" isn't a knock on Capitalism. It's just an acknowledgement that Socialism has its place and Capitalism has its place as well. And in today's society, they need to be shuffled around a bit.
Penal System
The privatization of prisons is wrong on so many levels. Not only is it utterly immoral for some people to profit from other people's incarceration, but it drives an incentive to send more people to prison and for longer terms. That leads to more government spending on prisons (even though they're "private"), more lives ruined needlessly (usually poor minorities), more restrictive laws in our society (victim-less drug crimes with unduly harsh sentences), and more burdens in our society when these 'convicts' get out of prison and can't land good-paying jobs (which in turn leads to more crime). Furthermore, putting prisoners to work for little-or-no pay is akin to slavery.
And to maximize profits, these private prisons need to keep costs down of course. That alone should give you an idea of the conditions within. Again, another plug for Michael Moore's film - there's a segment on the prison system in Norway - it highlights the humane treatment of prisoners which leads to a lower rate of recidivism. And of course, private prisons are outlawed.
**
These are a few of the industries which many believe should be socialized instead of capitalized. That's not to say that Capitalism is bad - it has its place in most industries. But even in some of those industries, socialism exists for large corporations in the form of subsidies, tax breaks, risk, etc. Look at some companies like Walmart - they pay their workers such low wages that even full-time employees live in poverty and require government assistance.
Bottom line - "Democratic Socialism" isn't a knock on Capitalism. It's just an acknowledgement that Socialism has its place and Capitalism has its place as well. And in today's society, they need to be shuffled around a bit.
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