The Starbucks thing

The Winners And Losers Of Free Market Capitalism

"Everyone knows there are winners and losers when capitalism is functioning at its best."

 

Well, I’m sure the mandate requiring solar panels on new homes will surely help alleviate this problem...

 

Also a bit of a lesson in the law of unintended consequence: I think I read in the Journal the other day that because California has lowered the penalties on many minor crimes--an idea which I'm sure I myself would have supported--cops aren't even bothering arresting drug users and petty thieves because they're quickly released.

(Although I would agree that's not really a solution either: it'd probably be better to use the money on drug and mental-health support than wasting it on enforcement and prisons.)

 

I’m fine with those changes. I’ll be curious if others are.

 

We dismantled the old, gruesome mental health apparatus in this country in the 1970s.

We promised to rebuild it in the 1980s.

We did not.

 

I perhaps should have been more explicit: The alleged consequence of this being that people who would have had at least shelter in jail now being forced to live on the streets. (Hence my comment that putting them in jail isn’t really an ideal solution either.)

 

Petty theft shouldn’t be a criminal matter ... am I actually reading that right?

 

Well, I think the issue from my perspective is this so-called criminals often have mental health issues and/or drug problems, and treating these as criminal matters doesn’t solve the larger issue—either for them or society.

 

Something’s gotta give somewhere. You wanna put them in jail? We’re paying for it. You damn well know they’re not gonna be good for a fine they can’t pay.

 

Send 'em to Texas. They'll hang 'em high.

 

I didn’t say I did. But the original comment was that, because they’ll likely be released, police aren’t even arresting them.

 

For more context-

Why California Leaves Its Homeless Out in the Sun