To conclude, economically it would make sense for a person with good physical and intellectual abili

This article was inspired to me by a friend of mine who has a criminal history from long ago and has recently felt like reverting chicago hotels magnificent mile to the illicit career that he know he could make money simply because chicago hotels magnificent mile he has not been given a chance. chicago hotels magnificent mile His conviction was over 6 years ago, since then he has graduated from an accredited University, maintained employment, and basically done everything right. He has a job but he barely makes over minimum wage and although he has applied everywhere, has great skills and work ethic every employer uses his past as a reason not to hire him. He is threatened of losing everything chicago hotels magnificent mile including the apartment that he lives with his two kids because his expenses are so much more than his income. The discussion chicago hotels magnificent mile was sparked chicago hotels magnificent mile because he sincerely does not want to indulge in underground behavior chicago hotels magnificent mile but assistance is coming from nowhere including government programs chicago hotels magnificent mile that won't help because he does technically have employment, and something needs to be done. To be clear, selling controlled dangerous substances is never morally a good option and in most cases long term it is detrimental financially, however my goal is argue when it is economically a smarter decision to sell drugs opposed to working a dead end job.
The first thing you learn in economics is about tradeoffs and scarcity. There is not enough of anything, even at a zero price, for everyone to have everything they want therefore to get more of anything chicago hotels magnificent mile something must be given up. What should a person do if they would trade anything to obtain decent employment but the resource is either too scarce or the available resources will not suffice? chicago hotels magnificent mile Many would say make what you have work for you, however this is not always possible. The cornerstone of economics is marginal cost vs. marginal benefits. When marginal costs exceed marginal benefits it is not a good idea to produce or invest. In my friend's case, the cost of him going to work every day working for pennies is exceeding the benefits he is getting from it. This practice of comparing costs and benefits is called "rational self-interest".  With every choice we make a marginal benefit chicago hotels magnificent mile and costs calculation occurs and the decision is made based on the situation. A common economic term that most people know is "opportunity cost". Opportunity cost is what must be given up to obtain something else, or the value of your next best alternative. To obtain the employment that my friend wants, he feels like he has given up everything. What is the value of his alternatives? Let's say that his alternative is selling drugs. The value would far exceed what he is bringing in now if we take out morals and the risk of incarceration. But for the sake of the argument, it would actually make sense for him to quit his job and sell weed, crack, heroin or any other drug you can think of. Ok, let's take heroin out, that's just a terrible drug. Anyways, he would save on day care since he wouldn't have to go to a place to work, he would make much more money and provide a better quality of living for the kids, and he could seek employment while he catches up on debt without the fear of being evicted. In fact, the opportunity cost of not getting the fast money could have a detrimental impact on the children. Please remember we are not incorporating morals or the influence on the kids, just economics.
Let's move on from my friend and go macro, let's focus on the War on Drugs as a whole. chicago hotels magnificent mile In a land abundant chicago hotels magnificent mile in resources and no lack of intelligent people, why are so many poor and why are there not enough jobs for everyone to have? First, we should exclude the people who don't work because they are free riders and take the incentive to enjoy public goods without paying for them. For the people that are actually trying but struggling then make the decision that selling drugs is a smarter economic decision, the War on Drugs is a market failure. A market chicago hotels magnificent mile failure is any situation where the market is unable to efficiently allocate resources or goods and services. So if the market fails, some other mechanism must serve as the allocator. Since the costs are imposed on people who are not a part of the decision to purchase and sell drugs, chicago hotels magnificent mile this is called a negative externality. Meaning, the cost to keep dealers in jail, prevent crack babies from being born, and keeping innocent lives from being taken is pushed onto citizens who have nothing to do with the drug trade. For example, when a person's property loses value because of the crack strip down the street or when the young hard working African American man constantly gets pulled over because of his nice car. The question is, where our resources should be allocated and what other method should we use to allocate them to prevent the market failure.
Some would argue that there has been asymmetric information given to those who participate in the drug trade. They would say that young minority children chicago hotels magnificent mile are told and shown that successful people have nice cars, have many sex partners, and live without rules while upper class children are told that successful people have good credit, are smart, and obtain assets. The knowledge is passed by their environment, so you can understand why thinking otherwise would seem counter-intuitive to them. The quality of the education given along with influences mold viewpoints of success, but with lack in both areas many are left to figure it out themselves. Others would argue that the information is given to all, it is just the person's responsibility which information to accept.
To conclude, economically chicago hotels magnificent mile it would make sense for a person with good physical and intellectual ability that is disenfranchised because of inadequate resources and possible asymmetric chicago hotels magnificent mile information given early on to sell drugs instead of working chicago hotels magnificent mile minimum chicago hotels magnificent mile wage or waiting for a handout. However, in reality not all decisions are made based solely on economics and doing so can land you in heap of trouble. Just ask Bearnie Madoff or the real Rick Ross. My friend that I speak of decided that the consequences of taking the risk were much higher than the possible benefits. In short, he would rather struggle in the world than be in prison.
Ok so I have read the entire post and my opinion didn t change by the time I finished reading it. I just think that the risk is not worth it plain and simple. I personally know people that sell drugs and have been doing so for several years 10+ and have never had any run ins with the law (police). Some of them have a pretty nice lifestyle family, house and cars. Other prefer to waste their rapid income on materialistic items that hold no value. Bottom line is that all of that could be gone tomorrow, no seriously it all could be gone the very next morning. Then what do you have kids with no dad, women with no man, family with bills and no help at all (no more help they receive from a man making a low income). NOTHING!!! So I ask is that fair to the mans family? I would really like to see a women s point of view on this topic.
The natural instinct of man is to provide for his family, protect them and love them. Given the economy has been and continues to be on the brink of a second Great Depression, one can imagine the desperation a man may suffer with due to the responsibility and for lack of a better word, burden upon his shoulders. It is logically understandable the risk of selling drugs and getting caught is not as important to a man in comparison with the benefits for his family after all, no greater friend than he who will lay down his own life for his friends. In times of desperation, with the exception of beg, borrowing and stealing could you let your family go one day without food? Can any truly loving and devoted parent/spouse allow that to happen? On another note, selling illegal drugs is a NON-violent crime. Sometimes bad things happen to good people whom made decisions with a pure heart and good intentions. If one of my own children needed a heart transplant to survive, I would gladly give her my own. So, long run, worst case scenario chicago hotels magnificent mile the drug selling, family man is caught, convicted and incarcerated right? Leaving his family while he serves behind bars for who knows how long? One week is a long time to miss of you re child s life, ten to twenty years is an eternity. Men are forgotten, the family views them as a death and goes on with their lives as any of us do. Is that man not a martyr? I will never justify doing anything illegal, however sometimes doing the right thing for the greater good is more important. (Signed a woman s point of view)
@Christina I absolutely agree. Selling drugs is not coherently chicago hotels magnificent mile violent, however it is a crime commonly associated with violence. The dealer does not beat you up to buy his drugs, the user purchases it willingly. chicago hotels magnificent mile The justification for the enormous amount of prison time given is that it ruins people s lives by addiction, stealing, etc. So what is the difference between chicago hotels magnificent mile the local crack pusher and the liquor store, or the casino? It is excellent to hear a woman s point of view, especially since they are the one s left carrying chicago hotels magnificent mile the bag once the man who s duty it is to provide for his family is faced with the desperation chicago hotels magnificent mile of dire circumstances. Let your babies starve or risk prison chicago hotels magnificent mile in the trap, economically seems like an easy choice to me.
Women are left carrying the bag in more ways than one. I would prefer that my past experience had been that of a concerned, supportive and protective man than suffer the abuse of a narcassistic sociopath lying, cheating, verbal and physical abuse, manipulation and control tactics, intimidation, possessiveness, jealousy, chicago hotels magnificent mile blaming everything on me, having no involvement with his own children, needing constant ego boosting, abandonment and always having to be right. But hey, I m grateful I ve lost my ex-husband due to divorce rather than death.
@christina and @Walter lets say the man is successful at eluding the law (police) in his endeavor to sell drugs and provide for his family. When