Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Mexico's Cartels and the Economics of Cocaine
Townhall.com ^ | January 6, 2013 | Stewart Scott

Posted on 01/06/2013 8:41:26 AM PST by Kaslin

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

1 posted on 01/06/2013 8:41:34 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Bump for later.


2 posted on 01/06/2013 8:59:07 AM PST by super7man
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This “trade” in cocaine into the U.S.A. wouldn’t exist if there did not exist a demand for the product.

How much effort would it take to eliminate the demand here, in the U.S.A., for cocaine? For it is the huge profits from cocaine sales here that is financing the Mexican Cartels’s expansion into other regions in the Western Hemisphere.

One can only suspect politicians in the U.S.A. of having a special interest in seeing this expansion continue rather than eliminating the demand here for cocaine and thus the porous border.


3 posted on 01/06/2013 9:01:53 AM PST by SatinDoll (NATURAL BORN CITZEN: BORN IN THE USA OF CITIZEN PARENTS.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Assuming folks read this entire article before posting, does anybody really believe that relaxing U.S. drug laws would limit the profits to the drug cartels?

They are already employing mafia tactics to maintain control in the “medical
mj” market.

Ya, there are a some home growers not impacted, but that’s always been true.


4 posted on 01/06/2013 9:02:45 AM PST by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: G Larry
With a business model of selling cocaine at over 10 times the cost of acquisition -- and even greater over the cost of production

Did you read the whole article? Without a tenfold profit there would be no incentive for an organized cartel to murder and enslave. Instead, they would be making a ten percent profit or so and they could either buy a factory for making shoes or ship cocaine to the United States. I don't know how the lessons of Prohibition in the 20's are lost on many Conservatives. It is time to decriminalize all drugs and then stop lessening the consequences drug use has on an individual by giving them State subsidies.

5 posted on 01/06/2013 9:35:14 AM PST by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The current body of drugs laws has created a financial empire controlled by murderous criminals and scheming politicians of several nations.

Like all laws, the shaping of these regulations over the decades since their quasi-racist and progressive inception has been influenced by monied lobbyists.

Were cocaine, opium, and other drugs freely imported by the same enterprises that import spirits, under similar regulations, then governments could collect their excise taxes, and cities could be free of the criminal depredations by those who are presently burdened by multi-hundred dollar per day habits.

Figures in the Stratfor piece suggest that retail prices could be slashed by up to 90% which would reduce the snorters’ and shooters’ outlays to the came level as alcoholics daily rations of $20 to $50.

Or, we can believe what the Ministry of Truth tells us.

Your call, Winston Smith...


6 posted on 01/06/2013 9:46:29 AM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: G Larry
Most established big business is operated by people with cartel or mafia mentality. The only difference is they no longer need to “show teeth” because government will do it for them.

Instead of financing guerrilla warfare, they simply finance the right politicians to take out competition. It's done through corrupt regulations, taxes, unequal enforcement, lawsuits, etc.

Instead of going around and openly robbing people, they simply get politicians to steal for them. The thefts no longer occur at gunpoint, but rather through automatic taxes that most citizens don't even look at. The politicians get a cut and don't care because "it's not my money."

The politicians and connected businesses benefit while everyone else gets screwed through higher taxes, higher prices and inferior products.

7 posted on 01/06/2013 10:09:36 AM PST by varyouga
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sawdring

So, you’re stuck on clueless?!

What part of legalization do you fantasize would move the cartels out of the business model and into a 10% vs. 10X profit position?

What part of expanding the dope culture contributes to a better society?

Let me guess...”It’s no different than booze...”

Stupid! Just plain Stupid!


8 posted on 01/06/2013 10:18:33 AM PST by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: headsonpikes
Figures in the Stratfor piece suggest that retail prices could be slashed by up to 90% which would reduce the snorters’ and shooters’ outlays to the same level as alcoholics daily rations of $20 to $50.

With taxes, the cost of a 2 pack a day cigarette habit is getting near $20 in some parts.

9 posted on 01/06/2013 10:22:32 AM PST by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: varyouga

Ya, there’s no product competition, allowing the market place to decide.

Where do you get this “most” garbage?

Do you have any choices in transportation, appliances, tools, electronics, food, clothing.....?

There are a few area’s where your paranoid scenario occurs and it’s important to correct those, but it certainly isn’t the prevalent business model in America.

It’s has no bearing on exploding drug use in our culture.


10 posted on 01/06/2013 10:32:57 AM PST by G Larry (Which of Obama's policies do you think I'd support if he were white?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: glorgau

Prohibition didn’t work then and does not work now. I would rather Anheuser Busch handle cocaine leaf distribution. We tax it but keep the price low enough people want do home invasions.


11 posted on 01/06/2013 10:40:41 AM PST by I_BE_THE_ONE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

And don’t forget the billions Hollywood makes with narco-themed movies... (all the while snorting up a good percentage of the product)


12 posted on 01/06/2013 10:52:06 AM PST by Moltke ("I am Dr. Sonderborg," he said, "and I don't want any nonsense.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Marijuana represents roughly 60 percent of the cartels’ profits in the U.S. market. Legalization in the U.S. would cause economic damage to the illicit Mexican drug industry greater than 45 years of interdiction wars. Legalization would have to follow a licensing, taxing and marketing model along the lines of the U.S. alcoholic beverage and tobacco products industries. Any hippie-dippy, free form marketplace will quickly be dominated by criminals.

If marijuana is removed from the “war” public resources can be focused on narcotics. When Nixon waged his “War on Drugs” the funding was roughly 75 percent for education/treatment and 25 percent for law enforcement/interdiction. Over the years this ratio has reversed with law enforcement getting the lion's share and the result has been zilch. As controversial as methadone clinics are they remove the addict and his money from the outlaw market and give him the breathing space to build a productive life.

Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico's newly elected president, has reached out to the U.S. for help with the cartels. If he's serious the U.S. could mount the type of high-tech military programs (electronic eavesdropping) that helped diminish the Colombian cartels and restore order in Colombia. An important component in Colombia was the emergence of a large, armed vigilante group that turned the cartels’ own terror tactics against them. It was unpleasant but it worked.

What throws a wrench in any of these ideas is the monetary power of the cartels and their ability to influence U.S. policy through bribery and other forms of corruption.

13 posted on 01/06/2013 11:05:38 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee

“What throws a wrench in any of these ideas is the monetary power of the cartels and their ability to influence U.S. policy through bribery and other forms of corruption.”

I assume the existing body of law and policy is the result of just such subornation and corruption.

You should, too.


14 posted on 01/06/2013 11:34:16 AM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Never fear, Everyone of our Too Big To Fail Banks in this Country , who by the way are under Direct Control of the Federal Reserve Corporation, Who also is Under Direct Control of US Treasury, ie El Presidente and Congress. Will Still continue to LAUNDER ALL OF THEIR MONEY.


15 posted on 01/06/2013 11:42:52 AM PST by eyeamok
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: headsonpikes

The below link is dated but I believe accurate:

http://www.aim.org/special-report/the-hidden-soros-agenda-drugs-money-the-media-and-political-power/


16 posted on 01/06/2013 1:48:22 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: G Larry
Assuming folks read this entire article before posting, does anybody really believe that relaxing U.S. drug laws would limit the profits to the drug cartels?

Nobody claims that "relaxing" U.S. drug laws would limit the profits to the drug cartels - but eliminating those laws (except for standard product regulations against fraudulent claims and contamination) would do so by the simple economics of increased competition.

They are already employing mafia tactics to maintain control in the “medical mj” market.

Evidence? The article doesn't say this.

17 posted on 01/06/2013 1:54:56 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies ("The Lord has removed His judgments against you" - Zep. 3:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Brad from Tennessee
So what? Soros wears pants - does that mean you won't?
18 posted on 01/06/2013 1:56:26 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies ("The Lord has removed His judgments against you" - Zep. 3:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Moltke
And don’t forget the billions Hollywood makes with narco-themed movies...

I keep hearing on FR about how movies and TV "glamorize" drug use - but I haven't actually seen such a depiction in many years.

19 posted on 01/06/2013 1:59:34 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies ("The Lord has removed His judgments against you" - Zep. 3:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SatinDoll
How much effort would it take to eliminate the demand here, in the U.S.A., for cocaine?

It would take a police state. How did we do on eliminating the demand here, in the U.S.A., for the mind-altering drug alcohol?

20 posted on 01/06/2013 2:02:50 PM PST by JustSayNoToNannies ("The Lord has removed His judgments against you" - Zep. 3:15)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson