For the first time, 1 of every 100 Americans is behind bars, reports the New York Times. Our prison population is the largest in the world — 1.6 million — with China second at 1.5 million. The prison costs are “blowing a hole in state budgets,†according to a report by the Pew Center on States.
America’s lock ’em up fervor in the past two decades has had an undeniable impact in reducing crime rates, but the report says too many nonviolent offenders are going to prison.
Kansas was one of 12 states that showed a decline in prison population in 2007.
The state of Kansas spent nearly $1.5 billion in the past five years on various “economic development†projects, but it’s hard to point to clear economic benefits from the spending, according to a Legislative Division of Post Audit study.
From 2003 through 2007, the state agencies spent about $630,000 on “economic development†— most of that federal dollars. The state also had $860,000 in “forgone revenue†from tax credits, according to the study. And the figure doesn’t count the loss of some $400,000 in the next five years from the repeal of the state business machinery and equipment property tax, which was designed to spur economic growth.
What are taxpayers getting for the investment? It’s hard to quantify, because of the difficulty of tracing a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the spending and economic growth.
“A billion and a half dollars is a lot of money to put on the table without being certain what you’re getting in return,†noted state Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence.
Some found it offensive that “Saturday Night Live†would put dark makeup on an actor of white and Asian descent, Fred Armisen, to portray Barack Obama. Granted, the minstrel-show echoes are uncomfortable, but it should be noted that the show has long crossed racial lines at will (Armisen as Prince, Darrell Hammond as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis Jr.). “It’s not about race,†producer Lorne Michaels told the Washington Post. “It’s about getting a take on Obama, where it serves the comedy and the writing.†He also promised more Obama on tonight’s show.
As University of Southern California professor Todd Boyd observed: “If we had as many examples of black actors playing white figures, no one would need to discuss it. But when you have a figure as historically important as Barack Obama . . . people can get mighty protective of his image.â€
For the first time, 1 of every 100 Americans is behind bars, reports the New York Times. Our prison population is the largest in the world — 1.6 million — with China second at 1.5 million. The prison costs are “blowing a hole in state budgets,†according to a report by the Pew Center on States.
