From: Barking@The.Moon   
      
   > I think this is wonderful.  Anything, well, almost anything beats the day   
   > in, day out monotony of prison life.  A change of scenery is great, and if   
   > it helps them learn a skill and challenges them abit too, then that's also   
   > great.   
      
      
   It has only one functional purpose today - to keep inmates busy. The very   
   idea that they will better themselves through gainful employment is a MYTH,   
   little more than a FANTASY. There are many felons who will find jobs, but   
   they WILL be bounced around from place to place like pingpong balls, and   
   many more will simply not find jobs.   
      
   Well, to rephrase, they will "find" plenty of jobs, but they will not   
   actually get "hired" for any of them regardless of qualifications, abilities   
   or potential.   
      
   This is corporate policy, and this is law. These policies and attitudes have   
   gradually crystallized over many many years of wars, unrest, riots, slavery,   
   etc etc etc. This is probably the origin of many of the silly licensing   
   requirements as well, such as chauffers licenses, barbers license,   
   bartenders license, etc. As long as a license is required for these   
   occupations, they can effectively prohibit you from owning your own   
   business - forcing you into poverty and hopefully death (evidently).   
      
   I think that it lends a lot of insight into a whole new dimension of   
   historical attitudes, and how people in the US have practiced capitalism.   
   There are really 2 sides to the coin. One the one hand you would like to   
   become as wealthy as possible, but the flip side of the coin is that there   
   is a tendency to try to drive others deeply into poverty out of spite.   
   Economists have ignored this phenomena - but it is very real. There is a   
   clear motivation to prevent ex-cons from ever working again. Economists are   
   in DENIAL if they do not recognize this cruelty, and it's impact on the   
   economy. Talk about going to college to get stupid.   
      
   There are hundreds of things which economists look at to guage the health of   
   the economy. Unemployment claims, profitability, productivity, consumer   
   confidence, etc etc etc. But, I do not believe that anyone has ever   
   recognized the phenomena of "employment deprivation" or "advancement   
   repression" when practiced against millions of people. Certainly people have   
   complained about it enough with respect to EEOC matters for minorities,   
   women, etc, but they dont want to admit that it is an important or relevant   
   metric in macroeconomics. I think that they need to stop lying to   
   themselves.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)