 Editor's Notes
By Chuck Armsbury
Private
prison companies, most notably Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA), anticipate increased stock performance and profits in
near future. With governments short on cash and prisons overcrowded,
these vampire capitalists don't favor or expect reductions in
state or federal prison populations and construction. "In
what might be a revealing commentary on our country's state of
affairs, the nation's private prison companies look like solid
investments for the next several years," claims award-winning
New York financial adviser Michael Brush.*
Brush writes that "Corrections Corp.,
for example, trades at about 22 times 2005 earnings estimates,
at the low end of its historic 22 to 25 range. The Geo Group
appears cheaper, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14.
But at $26, it trades at the 12-month price target recently set
by one analyst. (As the leader, Corrections Corp. deserves a
premium valuation.)"
"Founded in 1983, Corrections Corp.
was the first company to privatize prisons in the United States.
It's also the biggest, with 54% share in the private prison sector.
So it's likely to get a big piece of the business from state
and federal prisons trying to cope with overflows," Brush
advises potential investors.
Plain talk about profiteering on incarcerated
people isn't 'breaking' news to most Razor Wire readers. But
emotionless dollars-and-cents analysis of the financial 'good'
that comes from massive over-incarceration still offends and
enrages one's conscience, right? Is it merely a joke or oxymoron
that capitalist morality isn't moral? What a strange land where
any thing can be for sale when the dominant standard of socioeconomic
success is making profit? Do leading capitalists routinely denounce
profiteering on children traded or sold in the international
sex markets? Do some big bankers refuse the obscene profit to
be gained from laundered drug trafficking money?
Comedian Bill Maher has a new rule: Not
everything in America has to make a profit. Maher, long-time
drug war critic, seems particularly troubled by the evident profit-on-everything
US economy and culture. On the July 24 episode of Real Time
With Bill Maher (HBO), Maher reminds us that "war profiteer"
used to be a "bad thing, but now our war zones are dominated
by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations."
**
Maher's right: unlike previous US wars
"there are more private contractors in Iraq than American
troops," paid generous salaries to launder troops' clothing
and do other work usually done by the soldiers themselves.
The funny man then ridicules for-profit
prison corporations, singling out CCA "on the New York Stock
Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real
crime is happening anyway." Maher is incensed that "CCA
and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer
sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more
money." It's no wonder why the US is world's leading jailer
"because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative
impact on the bottom line."
Maher weighs in heavy on profiteering in
the news media and health-care industry, too. "When did
the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When
did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do
for your country; ask what's in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield,"
snarls this angry white man.
Winding down his rant, Maher asks "if
medicine is for profit, and war, and the news, and the penal
system, my question is: what's wrong with firemen? Why don't
they charge? They must be commies. Oh my God! That explains the
red trucks!"
Using humor and ridicule Maher insists
that profit-making is the ONLY morality in capitalist ideology.
And yet what should we think about the morality of 'covering'
or 'socializing' big bankers' greed and losses with recent billion-dollar
handouts of public funds? How about one of the greatest cons
of all: socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. Not
since the revolutionary 1960s have I witnessed such intense,
national discussion over socialist and capitalist economies and
their differing visions of the future.
Seriously, now, how can we ordinary folks
do much to solve longstanding social problems that apparently
can best, or only, be illuminated by comedians? Calling on the
power of unity and common purpose seems obvious, a first step,
but too often in vain in today's highly individualized, competitive,
capitalist culture. Has cynical outlook and disenchantment won
the day? Has 'me first' become a drumbeat in each of us? Not
completely -- renewed unity in 2008 among diverse voters put
Barack Obama in the White House, and millions of hopeful supporters
who stood shoulder-to-shoulder at his January inauguration still
dream of real change in our country. More than ever, we need
those millions to stand up for the wrongly convicted and over-punished
prisoner class.
Somewhere between salivating prison profiteers
and decent businesspeople lies some common ground for morality,
vision and alliances with the languishing movement to end the
drug war, decarcerate our prisons, and strengthen local communities.
No matter where you are, build unity with people daily in words
and deeds, and stand up every chance you get to educate and activate
locally and in your state for real change in criminal justice
philosophy, policies, practices, and especially initiatives for
alternative sentencing and earned release from custody.
As always, stay in touch, share this issue
with others, and help advance November Coalition's mission with
your money, time and commitment.
* Online at www.moneycentral.msn.com
** Online at www.hbo.com/billmaher
Solidarity forever, 
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