Secrecy goes beyond Pharma

Economist Dean Baker recognizes the effect of government conferred monopoly to big Pharma by way of information control (patents) on consumers. He needs to expand this understanding to all the other ways information control affects power structures. A simple example: secrecy is essential to hide organized crime from authorities; 'blue wall of silence' is essential to shield illegal/immoral/unethical police and their actions from the public.

Note: Control of information is relevant to practically every label.

Endemic police violence

Redditt Hudson, a black former cop, wrote this article detailing the culture of racism flamed violence in American police departments. He tells an awful story that's well worth reading. He writes:

"On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will do the right thing no matter what is happening. Fifteen percent of officers will abuse their authority at every opportunity. The remaining 70 percent could go either way depending on whom they are working with. "

So rooting out the 15% of abusive cops would go far to fixing the problem.

I wonder if private insurance could be an effective tool to stem police misbehavior. I am not clear if municipalities self-insure against the professional conduct of their police. Cities have had to pay out large sums to victims of police violence. What would happen if each police officer were required to carry individual police conduct insurance? (Compare this to malpractice insurance that doctors need to practice medicine.) Who actually pays for the insurance coverage is not as important as the insurer adds a layer of independent oversight. Insurance providers don't want to pay claims; they won't insure officers with a record of misconduct. It might just work as a tool to weed out the bad cops and warn the others that big brother is watching (when they're on duty, that is).

Privilege

When rioting broke out during the protests of Freddie Gray's death (he sustained life threatening injuries while in the custody of the Baltimore police), a mother was caught on tape disciplining her son when she found him participating in the unrest. She apparently told a reporter, “That's my only son and at the end of the day I don't want him to be a Freddie Gray." This is a prime example of white privilege... how often do white parents need to train their kids to be fully conciliatory to police under all circumstances?

And not to diminish the African-American experience, this also brought to mind a recent report of a Maryland couple getting in trouble for allow their children to 'free range'. Privilege came to mind again.

As people, young and old, we all want the privilege of safety wherever we happen to be. Women want to be free of cat calls when walking on a public street; children want to be free (of predators) to play safely anywhere they choose to; people of all stripes want to be free of harassment (police and otherwise) when they are not doing anything illegal and free of excessive force when restrained for any reason; everyone should be free of fear that they may be targeted by a gun totting second amendment 'supporter'. And we should have the expectation of freedom from electronic monitoring unless specifically and explicitly permitted through legitimate and open judicial review.

It is a poor reflection on our founding fathers that rights once conferred by the Constitution are now privileges afforded to select citizens.

A cause to police violence?

The police in the U.S. kill a lot of people. It's as if they do their jobs in a constant high state of fear. I wonder if the post-Newtown relaxation of many gun regulations has heightened the sense of siege by the police and that in combination with long standing racism has amplified their targeting of African-Americans (see here and here).