Protecting The Homeland

The new Trump appointed Director of Homeland Security (Homeland Security does have a Germanic ring to it doesn’t it) is praising the recent extradition of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera as a step in the right direction.

Since the announcement of infamous cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera’s extradition to the United States, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly is heralding the move as a first step in the right direction.

Kelly said in a statement that El Chapo’s extradition “marks an important opening salvo” to the fight against the Mexican drug cartels by DHS.

“Last week’s significant development in the long-term investigation against drug lord Joaquin ‘Chapo’ Guzman Loera marks an important opening salvo in bringing the alleged head of the world’s largest drug trafficking organization to justice for his crimes,” Kelly said.

How many times has a captured or killed cartel head been accounted for as a big win in the War On Drugs? Every single time. Anyone remember Pablo Escobar? And how about this list of wins against Drug Kingpins? We keep winning and yet new Drug Lords keep arising. Why is that? Well Prohibition keeps profits high enough to always attract new entrants to the field. We learned how that worked from Alcohol Prohibition didn’t we? Well maybe not.

A commenter had this to say about Trump’s Wall and its effect on the Drug Trade.

A tough and America-loving US President means someone that can be counted upon. Spines build spines.

I replied:

And Prohibition builds cartels.

Clever of Trump. Very clever.

We are in the process of finding out who owns him.

And I went on with (slightly amended):

Strict enforcement raises cartel profits. We learned that from Alcohol Prohibition didn’t we?

If Trump moves to increase enforcement he is siding with the cartels – while it looks to the rubes like he is attacking the cartels.

Clever. Very clever.

“The Latin American drug cartels have stretched their tentacles much deeper into our lives than most people believe. It’s possible they are calling the shots at all levels of government.” – William Colby, former CIA Director, 1995

Not too long after making that statement he died in a boating accident.

So maybe Trump is just trying to stay alive.

In a Drug War of another century it was noted:

“If the trade is ever legalized, it will cease to be profitable from that time. The more difficulties that attend it, the better for you and us.” — Directors of Jardine-Matheson

What is surprising to me is that some Republicans – normally quite good at the intersection of economics and politics – are terrible when it comes to the economics of Prohibition. And funny enough leftist – who are normally quite bad with the intersection of economics and politics – will describe the economics of Prohibition to a T. When I ask the lefties to apply what they know about drug war economics to the rest of their political universe – crickets. When I ask the question to some of my Republican friends – apply what you know about economics to the drug war – same response. Crickets.

I have come to the conclusion that drugs do in fact make people stupid.

Let me close with an economist who was not made stupid by drugs.


About 8 minutes

At about 2:45 into the video he explains that the purpose of the government in this particular arena is to protect the cartels. Catherine Austin Fitts a former undersecretary at HUD under Bush I has noted that Prohibition also protects the bankers. She learned that while she was at HUD. Her report didn’t make it to “reputable” newspapers. I wonder why?


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4 responses to “Protecting The Homeland”

  1. captain*arizona Avatar
    captain*arizona

    better argument for making milton friedman illegal. drugs have caused more harm then milton but not by much.

  2. Kathy Kinsley Avatar
    Kathy Kinsley

    Umm – yes, legalizing drugs might, eventually, get rid of the drug cartels.

    But, did the mafia disappear when that very stupid amendment was reversed?

    Same will happen here – even if drugs are legalized.

  3. Simon Avatar

    Kathy,

    The easy mafia profits come from things that the government prohibits. Prostitution for one.

    Until we decide that vices are not crimes we will have more than a few profit opportunities for criminals.

  4. Randy aka TheUnknownPundit Avatar
    Randy aka TheUnknownPundit

    The fact of the matter is the WOD still rages even as some states here are dropping out of the WOD with regards to cannabis. Perhaps in the near future drug reforms will reach the Fed’s and the WOD will end.

    There will always be criminals and organized crime of some sorts. We can reduce its impact by scraping vice laws. Regulate, don’t prohibit the vices of consenting adults. This will limit organized crime to theft rings and such.

    As for captain’s comment, I would argue that drug prohibition has done more damage than drug use. And it’s not even close as most drug usage is relatively benign in the daily lives of most users. They have more to fear from the damage an arrest can do them versus any adverse effects from drug usage.

    Milton Friedman was a great man and great American. Captain, you can keep Marx with my blessings.