Death of the American Dream is marked by the weakest social safety net & largest prison population

[Democrats Ramshield]

By Democrats Ramshield
(Cross-posted by author from the Daily Kos.)



(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)
How is it possible that America which claims that it only has enough money to fund the weakest social safety net of any major industrialized country in the world, but can find money to fund the biggest prison system in the world. As an American expat living in the European Union I am often reminded of the words of Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Dicken's tale when confronted with the request for social spending, he replies have we no work houses? Have we no prisons? Indeed American prison labor institutions have become the hallmark of modern day prison workhouses.

Indeed modern American prison workhouses may be the only place in any major industrialized country in the world where workers' wages can compete with the 22 cents an hour wages paid for workers in Bangladesh and other developing nations around the globe. This shocking reality clearly is the hallmark of a pariah system and an international badge of shame! This gives new meaning to the phrase "only in America".


Having said that American prison labor industries are the only place in America where low wage workers are guaranteed by the government to have access to medical and dental care and be provided prescription medications at taxpayer expense. The irony of this upside down pariah robber baron horror show is probably best exemplified in the for-profit American prison system. But then again what could we expect but the world's biggest prison population of any major industrialized country, stemming from a nation which is the only major industrialized country in the world not to provide universal medical access to all residents as a human right. America is also the only major industrialized country in the world that doesn't provide job protected paid maternity leave by right of law. It is the only major industrialized country in the world that provides no paid sick leave or annual leave by right of law.

(Please click on the link below to read my whole diary.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/06/1003874/-Death-of-the-American-Dream-is-marked-by-the-weakest-social-safety-netlargest-prison-population

[patrice]

1. K&R

[fascisthunter]

2. The Discovery Channel found a Way to Make Prisons as part of societies Entertainment

....yeah, educational to a degree, but man, it is a sign we are a country on the decline, all symptoms of greed and sociopathy.

[BiggJawn]

4. And don't forget MSNBC's "Prison Rape Weekends".

Does anybody watch that shit besides somebody hoping to catch a glimpse of a relative?

[indepat]

3. The joys of living in a RW society are boundless and infinite and growing at near

warp speed. :patriot:

[Enthusiast]

5. I noticed that too.

What a wonderful world.

[Overseas]

6. K&R. I want the European Dream. FDR's 2nd Bill of Rights.

I thought we Democrats were going to push that forward after the Bush Crash.