“Face it: Americans always turn everything into an industry, even religion. Nowhere is this truer than with poverty and prison. Both have been converted to big industries that feed big corporations. The poor you always have with you From the 15th century when enclosure began driving poor English farmers and peasants off the land, poverty was treated as a crime in England. As wool prices on the continent rose, more and more common land was ““enclosed”” or fenced off and titled to an individual, often an individual with powerful connections. Loss of the commons drove poor people off the land … Continue reading From poverty to prisons, Americans turn everything into an industry