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Just like McDonald's. The CEO makes big bucks and the workers make minimum wage. There is a great discussion of this in Steven Levitt's book "Freakonomics".
That's where I got that from. I thought he said in the updated version that drug dealers made about $3/hour. I could be wrong. I read most of it in one night.
What if Gangs were publicly traded companies (just think outside of the box), which Gang “companies” would offer the greatest return to shareholders?
Hells Angels (that's actually the proper spelling), Gangster Disciples and Black P Stones (anyone who is familiar with their histories would understand why, the leaders have been known to hire motivational speakers to give pep talks to the members), the drug organizations from New York in the 1970s and 1980s, Mexican Mafia, etc.
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What sorts of classification of stocks would the Gang Industry Fall under? (eg. Would they be small cap growth stocks, because of their high risk and high returns? Or could there ever be such thing as a “gang blue chip stock”eg, well established Gang Corps that pays dividends?)
Depends on the gang.
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What Government legislation and rules could further prevent Gangs from raking in large sums of money? (Yes, the simple fact that they’re engaging in illegal activity is the obvious answer, but what other restrictions could the government impose on the “Gang Industry” that would make it harder for them to make a profit?)
Sin taxes, tort laws, regulation, etc.
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Who is more accountable to their “shareholders” legal Corporate CEO’s or illegal Gang CEO’s?
Depends. Gang leaders are murdered by underlings all the time. Most famous gangsters: John Gotti, Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Nicky Scarfo, etc. all killed the guy above them.
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Are Gangs more successful because they operate in a highly unregulated Industry (meaning that besides the fact that most of their products, pot, heroin, cocaine, crack-cocaine, and prostitution are illegal there are no federal regulations, standards or requirments they must meet to distribute such products etc)?
Who are the shareholders of a gang? I'd argue a gang is more like a privately held company than a public corporation. The leaders at the top of a gang are not responsible to anyone.
Regarding the original questions, as gangs operate outside the legal framework, I'd agree there is much more risk and "opportunity" as there is less regulation to stifle operations (asides from police), while at the same time less safety from extrajudicial retribution. Running a gang well takes much of the same skill set as running a corporation. You need good managerial skills, financial sense, and strategic vision. Many of these leaders probably could thrive in the legal economy if they so chose.
Legalization would probably be the best way to constrain the drug economy. Legalize it, regulate it, and tax it. Put all the tax revenue into drug treatment and local economic development.
Sukoo, we are definitely 110% i n agreement. However, you raise an excellent point. Gangs would be more like private companies, but private companies also have shareholders, but do not fall under the same scrutiny, that public companies do, so the "shareholder" question remains. I guess since I did say if they were publicly traded. I could say the "shareholders" represent the membership in the gang as well as outside influences, that help the upper management make decisions.
There's a DIFFERENCE between top gang leaders and CEO's ?????
Call the CEO of Dell Computers a *** and call the head of the Aryan Brotherhood a *** and you'll see the difference pretty quickly. Although, I doubt you will actually be able to educate anyone on your learning experience. Well, not directly...
Trouble is they tend to not lay-off their laborers. They kill them. They also kill kill the competition. But then they also tend to kill their own customers.
Trouble is they tend to not lay-off their laborers. They kill them. They also kill kill the competition. But then they also tend to kill their own customers.
Only taking issue with your last sentence. Do Phillip Morris, Glaxxo Smith Kline, Budwiser, McDonalds, and any other company not produce products, that could eventually lead to our death? lol Aren't they regulated just enough, so that eating, smoking, or drinking there products just takes a wee-bit longer to eventually kill us (as opposed to an immediate unregulated herion overdose etc)....?
1.What if Gangs were publicly traded companies (just think outside of the box), which Gang “companies” would offer the greatest return to shareholders? MS-13, Crips and Bloods, Vice Lords, i don't know all of the names of the various gangs, so I would say gangs that operate in large highly dense areas and are able to hold some sort of monopoly or duopoly are probably going to offer shareholders the greatest return etc.
2. What sorts of classification of stocks would the Gang Industry Fall under? (eg. Would they be small cap growth stocks, because of their high risk and high returns? Or could there ever be such thing as a “gang blue chip stock”eg, well established Gang Corps that pays dividends?) I think gangs, that are just starting out would fall under small cap growth stocks. However, gangs that have been around and are well established, like "Hell's Angels" would certain fall under "blue chip" gang stocks. They've become so well branded they now sell-tee shirts and other accessories etc.
3. What Government legislation and rules could further prevent Gangs from raking in large sums of money? (Yes, the simple fact that they’re engaging in illegal activity is the obvious answer, but what other restrictions could the government impose on the “Gang Industry” that would make it harder for them to make a profit?) Legalizing, regulating, taxing would all be my first choices. However, to curtail the inflow of drugs from other countries as much as I hate tariffs i'd subsidize (levy an even bigger tax) on the American people to stop the drug inflow from aboard. This would help stimulate growth in the US (not that it will be needed) for marijuana (grown in Kentucky and California etc.) It would also rise the price on cocain and other harder drugs from aboard. These along with a sin-tax could help reduce the general populations craving for drugs. I would phase the subsidies (tariffs) out over a 5 year period, because we'd have enough regulations in place and the best way to reduce price is to expand the freedoms of the consumer by offering choice.
4. Who is more accountable to their “shareholders” legal Corporate CEO’s or illegal Gang CEO’s? I think illegal Gang CEO's are 10x more accountable to their shareholders, because of the large risk involved. A mistake and they could be murderd. They also have no judicial intervention if they feel they were wrongly thrown out on the street (A la a Dick Grasso NYSE or Carly Farina HP). There's no legal cost in running such an organization and there are no rights that the law protects, so it is much more high risk and you have to be much more accountable to your shareholders.
5. Are Gangs more successful because they operate in a highly unregulated Industry (meaning that besides the fact that most of their products, pot, heroin, cocaine, crack-cocaine, and prostitution are illegal there are no federal regulations, standards or requirments they must meet to distribute such products etc)? Yes, Gangs are extremely successful, because they do operate in a very highly unregulated industry. They are also extremely dangerous to their consumers, because of the lack of regulations. Gangs are very similiar to companies like Ford or Dupont at the turn of the century. There are no labor unions to negotiate wage increases for high risk jobs within the company. The inner city "foot soliders" have no unino to turn to, to ask for better working conditions etc. There's no government intervention on price controls, minimum wage laws,and heavy costly regulations. Minus the fact that the activities are illegal this is the purest form of captilism operating within the United States.
Its a libertarians dream company. No government taxes, no interstate commerce regulations, no federal regulations, no subsidies, large amounts of competition, and no interference in monopolistic practices.
6. Due to so much competition from other Gangs and the Federal Government (due to being illegal), gangs are constantly pushed to be innovative and adopt new sophisticated technology to avoid apprehension. Do Gangs adopt innovation and new technology at higher rates than legal corporations? Yes, because of the stiff competition from competing gangs and the federal government gangs are forced to innovate and use sophisticated new technology to avade capture. If they did not have the stiff competition from the Federal Government they would certainly be a lot slower in adapting new processes and creating new innovative illegal ideas. The Federal Government helps keep Gangs extremely innovative. The silliest idea the Federal Government has is thinking that they are raising the cost on Gangs by making most of their profitable activities illegal. In retrospect all they've done is increase the riskiness and provide a huge incentive for Gangs to be 100x more muderous, innovative, and adopt new technology at a faster rate than legal corporations.
Last edited by truthhurts; 02-11-2008 at 04:48 AM..
Considering the way some CEOs operate, I'm not sure there's much of a difference. Well, there is one. If you screw up as a CEO, you're paid money to go away. If you screw up as a gang leader, you're dead. I think I prefer the latter. Gang leaders have a strong incentive to excel, not sure about CEOs these days.
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