The Noble Lie

I'd save my wrath for the upper class fund managers and CEOs but I agree with the sentiment. Bankers do more damage to us than all the drugs put together. Actually, from my reading, be it the opium wars in China, prohibition, or Iran-Contra, it appears that banking, gov't, and big corporations are the top jobs in the international drug cartels. Some of the biggest names in American politics (Delano, Kennedy) made their fortunes running drugs and booze. Then there's Elihu Yale who made a windfall smuggling opium for the British East India Company -- money which heavily funded one of the most prestigious universities in our country (home to Skull & Bones, natch). I don't comment much on my own experiences with drugs, but most of the money I have spent in my life on substances goes to a guy growing something in his back room trying to cover basic survival costs, not some international cartel who would need to "launder" it. This used to be called "supporting the local economy." The only other thing I'll say is that the parent's legal pharmaceuticals seem to end up becoming the next generation's street drugs, yet the medical industry still fights so hard to combat the perception that there's something better, safer, more wholesome about the gear they're peddling.