Writing in The New York Times, columnist Thomas B. Edsall tees off on what he calls "poverty capitalism" or making money from the poor. He begins by describing a program which enables criminals to stay out of jail by having them pay for the monitoring services that try to keep them out of trouble.
Edsall thinks such programs are anathema, I think they are brilliant as they cost law-abiding taxpayers nothing. If they work, if they keep criminals from repeating while enabling them to stay out of jail, then everybody wins. The company makes a living, the criminal avoids incarceration, and the taxpayer avoids paying for his or her upkeep or supervision.
Making people pay for the services that they utilize is not reprehensible: think of toll roads, taxes on vehicle fuel, and park entry, hunting license and building permit fees.
