Our supposedly well educated current lame duck president has decided that his administration is apparently not finished completely fucking over the electorate. They are attempting to pass through some weak ass 11th hour legislation to further ban internet poker.
My problem here is that prohibition of activities deemed unwholesome by a minority of taxpayers does not benefit our country in an efficient way. We can point to a pretty strong example in 1920. When we banned booze, which lawmakers deemed a social ill at the time, it simply created numerous black markets in alcohol and transferred profits on the sales of booze to those willing to break the law. Now that booze is legal to sell, it is highly regulated (I can't even get a beer in the 4th quarter of a ball game) and generates substantial tax revenues that we need very badly these days.
In addition, banning gambling will be very costly as we will need to pay for all the enforcement costs incurred (identifying, prosecuting and incarcerating offenders).
Gambling is only a problem for those that choose to abuse it. Just like booze. Or tobacco. Or cars. Or any of the freedoms that we enjoy in a free nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment