It’s NOT about raising money or taxes

 

Good for North Carolina’s new governor. He’s going about trying to cut expenses instead of raising money, i.e. taxes. Finally, a politician who “gets it”. Pat McCrory, a successful businessman, the former mayor of North Carolina’s largest city, is looking for ways to reduce the runaway spending programs across the state. It only makes sense to do that. Unlike those guys in Washington who’s only plan is to raise taxes, borrow more, and spend even more, maybe…just maybe…the McCrory crowd can get at least one state back on the right track.

That said, there are some additional steps that could be taken to make this state economically sound.

There are more than 20,000 inmates serving time in the state’s prison system. Estimates vary, but it’s generally accepted that it costs North Carolina’s taxpayers $40,000 per year for every one of these prisoners. That’s for food, housing, clothing, guards, and heaven knows what else. Ok, so, doing the math, I find that the annual cost just to keep these guys in prison is 800-MILLION dollars a year.

Can that be right? Isn’t there something we can do to reduce that financial burden? It’s a given that MOST of those serving time are repeat offenders, and that the only reason they were released in the first place was because the prison system is overcrowded. Building more prisons is expensive. We all admit that. And, none of us want that added expense. But, if you look at the big picture, an intelligent person might deduce that it would be cheaper to build more prisons than it is to catch and prosecute a formerly convicted criminal who should not have been on the streets in the first place. Stands to reason.  And, if you add up the costs for the losses caused by these denizens of society, it looks like a no-brainer.

“Losses?”, you question. Yep. A parolee who breaks into your home and steals your property causes you losses. Even if you have insurance, you lose because your insurance rates…already high because of crooks…will likely go up.

And, of course, cops have to investigate, and though they don’t make a lot of money, it still costs taxpayers who pay their salaries. And, local jails have to take care of these crooks once they’re arrested. And, there’s the cost of prosecuting them, which will likely include the cost of a public defender. All at taxpayer expense. Money that could be used for education.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build more prisons and keep these clowns off the streets in the first place?

Ok, so we don’t want to go to that expense. I have another solution. Why not contract with other countries to take care of the REPEAT offenders? Those we know are going to get out of jail and do the same crimes over and over again. Those who we know are going to cost taxpayers a lot of money. I bet that by soliciting other countries, allowing them to BID on the opportunity to take care of our scums, that they could do it a lot cheaper than $40-thousand a year. First, there would be an immediate savings. Second, other countries would see this as a source of revenue and it’s doubtful that they would be granting early releases. And, third, once these thugs are released, I suspect they would think twice about doing another crime that would send them back to that sort of hell.

To me, it sounds like a win-win. For the taxpayers, if not for the criminals.