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comment by b_b
b_b  ·  4282 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Mark Kleiman on why we need to solve our alcohol problem to solve our crime problem

Haha, I'm sure that was a joke. There's nothing wrong with Johnnie Walker (and shame on the WP for spelling it "Johnny"). I have a bottle of gold at my house, and its spectacular, even as a blend.

But to another point, there absolutely is a class of people who go to jail: young black men, especially from low income families.

They should look to Canada to see what effect their taxes have had on crime. Their alcohol taxes are through the roof (for example, Labatt Blue, a Canadian imported beer, costs $21/case in MI, and about $40 in Ontario!). This seems like an easy test case to study whether higher taxes curb crime.





humanodon  ·  4282 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, I don't know. Canada isn't as polite and nice as Americans tend to think it is, but there could be many reasons for lower crime rates. Population size could be a factor, for one.

In regard to young black men, given the typical usage of "class" in political contexts is referring to young black men as "the class of people who go to jail" constructive to his advocacy of the issue? If he's talking about the poor in general, why not address issues that tend to lead people to drinking to begin with? It seems easier than taking on alcohol lobbyists.

b_b  ·  4282 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'm not talking about comparing Canada and the US. I mean comparing Canada to itself pre- and post-exorbitant alcohol tax. If alcohol actually drives people to commit crimes, that should be independent of location.