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How a government benefits from the drug trade and the illegal economy

Oct 03, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Let’s say a fictional country called Country X is one of the poorest countries in the world with corrupt and incompetent leadership. Country X’s legitimate economy is declining.
Its main industry is falling apart. Country X’s government is completely clueless when it comes to creating legitimate economic growth. Country X’s government mismanages, corrupts and squanders the nation’s resources.
Country X collects high taxes from a country of poor people and its people depend heavily on remittances. Fictional Country X’s government also borrows loans like a maniac. But it is not enough.
Legitimate wealth is not being created in fictional Country X. People of fictional Country X are taking on massive debt to better their circumstances.
No legitimate economic wealth creation and a stagnant or declining economy is trouble for the power brokers of Country X. It could lead to loss of votes, perks and loss of power.  So what does this fictional government of fictional Country X do? They make a horrible, reprehensible and immoral decision.
They allow the underground economy to rise or turn a blind eye while it grows into a monster. Money from crime is seen as progress and development that benefits the economy.
It does not matter that crime and criminality benefit only a few running the criminal organizations at the expense of an entire population living in fear. Organized crime breeds inequality since organized crime benefits only a few.
The societal cost of fictional Country X allowing organized crime to flourish is frightening. It breeds more crime. It encourages criminality. The unemployed sees crime as profitable. Society is corrupted. It intimidates the remaining decent citizens. It drives up cost of living as the few profiting from crime drive prices up.
This is how a fictional country becomes a safe haven for criminality. This is how a fictional country can become lost to crime and corruption. Exactly how a fictional Country X makes not only an immoral decision but a serious economic miscalculation.
Poor is bad but poor and being terrorised by criminals and surrounded by criminality and inequality from criminality is far worse. Any fictional government of a fictional country like Country X that allows criminals to play a dominant role in the economy no longer controls the economy.
Fictional Country X has nowhere to go but down a deep, dark hole, fast. It is only a matter of time before illegal businesses in fictional Country X start bidding and winning legitimate contracts paid for by taxpayers’ money. It will only make the criminals bigger, stronger and more menacing. In time, criminals will try to select the leadership of fictional Country X.
M. Maxwell

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