The Free Labor Market of America and How its Ruining Businesses

[Obfuscate]

The newest hot topic of the day is prison labor. Prison labor you say? Yes. Prison labor is not necessarily a "new" idea by historical standards. When we look back to the days of yester year we can recall the chain gang and quarry prison workers. So it might be hard to fathom how prison labor today is threatening to ruin some long standing businesses.

With ~1,000,000 people in prison today and only 10% or less of that population working in prison labor groups its hard to concieve of that few number of people running businesses into the ground. Well allow me to explain. The first thing you need to know about prison labor is that its cheap, really cheap. We're talking $1 or less an hour and working seven days a week 8-10 hours a day. The second thing you need to know is that prison labor is tax exempt meaing they pay no taxes on revenue generated by the labor done in these prison labor groups. With those two things in mind some of you might now be able to see how this could run some other business into the ground.

So what kind of labor are we talking about and about how many lost jobs are we talking about? Also is there a bright side to this? Well lets start with the first question. In short alot of the labor groups work on textile lines reupoulstering(SP?) furniture and doing some embrodierie. These textile lines are all state of the art and the people working them go through months of training and even then there are people who inspect every piece of furniture and embordierie that goes out of the factory. So here we have goverment funded, unregulated, cheap, state of the art furniture factories. Its not hard to understand how other large furniture manufactures, already under pressure due to large influxes of cheap imports, like Herman Miller for example, a large American based furniture maker, who not only has to pay their employees but also provide benifits and the like have trouble competing.

So how many lost jobs are we talking about? Well lets take Herman Miller as an example. If Herman Miller were to go out of business there would be 35,000+ jobs lost in america, and thats just one company thats not including if other companies go down as well, which is a possibility.

Is there a bright side to prison labor? Why yes there is. One of the bright sides is the millions they bring in every year for the federal goverment. Another bright side is that because they are tax exempt and the labor is cheap they can sell the furniture to the public at incredibly low prices making it easier on lower income families to have adaquet furniture. Third is that these factory jobs are some of the highest paying prison jobs which means that some inmates with needy families have money to send them, albeit not much, every month. One last bright side to this is that those who are allowed to work in these factories actually get job experience which will allow them to return to society and actually be a productive member of society. In essence these factories are rehabilitating inmates while turning huge profit margins for the goverment and allowing inmates to help support their families at the same time.

So my question to you is do you think we should continue to allow these prison factories to turn out incredibly cheap products and possibly ruin other long standing companies in America or do you think we should stop prison labor all together in order to save these companies?

[Edit: I'll be rather amazed if I get anything other than spam saying "DAT R 2 LONG!"]

[DaCougarMech]

hmm. it's a double edged sword. while the poorer people will get more income to meet their needs, the richer people will lose some of their revenue. opinion on this matter plays a part in our 2 party system. democrats will most likely say that it is good for the prisons to turn out cheap products for the benefit of the lower income families. republicans might say that it is bad because it competes against national corporations and disrupts the natural competition between civilian businesses

my position as a democrat says that yes, cheap labor to make cheap products is good since we already pay taxes to pay for their food and shelter, therefore, the same price is paid

[Tool]

DAT R 2 LONG!

As someone whose father is in jail and does prison labour I can honestly say that the amount they get paid is shit I must say. My father gets like 8 bucks a month. Anyway, if what you say is true, I personally would like to see it put to an end. I remember the second prison my dad went to had a lot of people who could work where ever. They did yard work, metal smithing, welding. Lotsa stuff. And they still get paid shit. Put it to an end.

[SDSnyper]

but they really dont need money there in Prison, plenty of jobs out there they can get once there out, its not like they can walk to walmart and buy a movie to watch and a brand new dvd player

[Mr. Fabulous]

SDSnyper, think of what your saying.......Ok, now when your at your interview and they ask you where you've been for the past 5 years....Not many will hire a an ex-con.


I say abolish this labor that is basically slave labor, but alas I doubt this will happen since many people will enjoy the idea of getting something virtually for free.

[TYLER]

in my mind, i have lots to say on this topic...but im, uh, im not sure if i can say what i am right now. oh well, im wasted.lol. anyways. i have lots to say on this topic, but since im wasted im gonna try to condense it. i say down with the prison labor. if someone is in prison, i personally think that it is his/her own fault for being there, therefore, it is his/her fault for not being able to support they're family from a cell.

ok enough typing..im going to bed -_-

wow..that took me like 20 minutes to type up because i had so many spelling/grammar errors...

[xDBD]

Hungover and still trashed. Let me elaborate:

"Rich get Richer 'till the poor get educated"
That Sage line was just what the doctor ordered.

Let prison labor flourish. Prison isn't for saints; people there do bad things. No doubt at all, however, when the 135,000 people are currently doing time on felony Marijuana charges, I think we should evaluate the evil level of our prisoners.

I, personally, had an uncle who went down for growing 40 Marijuana plants for FOUR YEARS. I know for a fact he never done anything but provide on small scale for himself and a select few of others. Four years he sat in there, wasting away. The only key to sanity were books; and lots of them. Prison labor COULD be the key to sanity. I think every man should atleast be granted the chance to be sane during his life. Very few exceptions to this in my mind exist.

You would also be surprised how easily ex-cons and ex-inmates can get jobs, provided they try. Many factories, small-scale wood working shops, and welding facilities and construction jobs make no qualms about hiring convicted felons. All of these jobs pay very well; many times, well over $15 an hour. You can't just get a job as a structural welder with no experience; it doesn't fly. Everyone has to make a living. That little bit of "free labor," done in prison COULD mean the difference in flipping burgers or being homeless, and making a living where you can actually live.

Finally, and IF a big business goes down due to inmates making cheaper and more quality furniture, or anything for that matter, you should question how long they would have lasted anyway. Some ****** in prison, new to the whole craft, makes a quality enough product to put veterans of the scene out of business? Laughable, they had it coming. Provided I had the money, i'd pay MORE for better quality anyday. If prison workers produce more quality at a smaller price, kudos to them. In the case that they actually WOULD to that, they never should have had to peddle drugs to begin with.

Edit: Few(obvious) mistakes corrected, and LOL at New-b-ie being censored.

[Tool]

Dude, amen to that. Same shit with my paps. Only thing that's keeping him going is the Bible. I think he's going to start a church when he gets out. I myself am not a church goer, but I am a believe so all the more power to him. =\

[Silver Ice]

i think prisoners should work and if they cant get paid much money maybe they should get paid in experience or consider if they get paid in volunteer experience.