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Any money made from a sinful endeavor will end up costing in the long run. Sin always costs instead of paying. Cigarettes increases medical insurance. Alcoholic beverages makes car insurance higher. So the person doing the sin may not pay, but in the long run; someone will.
Stress increases medical insurance too. Wreckless drivers (without the help of alcohol or some other substance) increases car insurance; get my drift? Please give better examples.
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The problem with the op is that economics doesn't give a damn about human misery.
Trying to solve a problem by only approaching it from an economic point of view could very well lead to fascism. I mean from an economic point of view Nazism really makes perfect sense.
The definition of fascism (as taken from reference.com) "is a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism."
Your point is non sequitur. How you get from prostitution to fascism is anyone's guess, but it isn't the government's job to tell people how to live and what to do with their body (unless it comes in conflict with someone else's well being like say killing or raping somebody). If we wanted morals in government, go for a theocracy. But we are a democracy where government is supposed to be an entity with no moral or religious leaning whatsoever.
Speaking strictly from morals, yes prostituition is bad; so is pornography, abortions, adultery, gluttony, lying, worshiping other gods...get my drift? I can go on about what I think is morally right and wrong but in the thick of things, my morals in government should have no standing.
The problem is that people associate government with morality and religiousness when it just shouldn't be so. Keeping prostitution illegal creates more problems than it solves as mentioned by fellow posters and at least if we made it legal we could make money from it. Geez for a country that is in a major recession, we sure can be picky about what we want to stimulate the economy. Whether it's from a moral endeavor or from a sinful endeavor money is still money; it's the people who use it that can make it a sinful or a great thing.
Your point is non sequitur. How you get from prostitution to fascism is anyone's guess, but it isn't the government's job to tell people how to live and what to do with their body (unless it comes in conflict with someone else's well being like say killing or raping somebody).
Be that as it may, prostitution generally is illegal and it is the government who decides what is and is not legal.
BTW according to de Toqueville and de Maistre it is very easy to go from prostitution to fascism.
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In a democracy, people get the government they deserve.
Attributed to Alexis de Toqueville
If two consenting adults agree to perform legal "functions" like sex, then there should be no laws against it. If one party agrees to give the other party some form of compensation for said function, it too should be legal.
How come getting around prostitution seems to be so difficult? So a man and a woman (or another man) have sex. Great. Hope it was good. The man pays for the service. Why can't they just separate the two things (Sex and paying for it)? Have sex and then give the woman (or man) money for something else totally unrelated to it. Say you are paying her for use of the room, but the sex itself was free. Have sex and use the room for a quick nap afterward. After the time is over, give the prostitute the money for use of the room for the nap and say the sex was no different than a one night stand.
A business license is required for pretty much any business transaction. Additionally when potential health ramifications are involved a health department inspection/permit is also required. Why shouldn't prostitutes have to abide by the same laws and regulations as restaurants and garages?
Originally Posted by kb09 Be that as it may, prostitution generally is illegal and it is the government who decides what is and is not legal.
These are things that we know. I'm questioning why it should be that way. Just because something is legal because "the gov't say so" is not going to make me not question it.
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BTW according to de Toqueville and de Maistre it is very easy to go from prostitution to fascism.
link?
or should I say a clickable link or at least direct me to a site please.
Also, in Japan prostitution has been legal for many years; a.k.a - live in brothels. They've had this system in place for years, but they are not a facist nation (at one time yes, but today there are not). According to you (and excluding all other relative factors), Japan would have become a facist nation somewhere back in the Meji Era and STAYED that way until today. But they are not, therefore your logic is non sequitur.
With something as prevalent as prostitution (and the fine line of spending $300 to take a woman to a fancy dinner, show and for drinks just to get her into bed one time and just simply handing her the $300 without all the song and dance), it just makes no sense to NOT regulate and tax it. Regulation would lead to testing, the downfall of pimps (for corporations) and the rise of police attention to actual crimes. How many good officers are wasted on prostitution sting operations every month?
In Hamburg, Germany, the prostitutes line up on the street next to the police station and have their rooms in a building across the street. They are regularly tested and taxed for disease on their earnings. A notable decrease in crime since this change has been noticed by residents of Hamburg.
After all, I can go online right now to a number of "escort" services and have a woman over at my house for a lunchtime quickie without any trouble at all...so why not make that $200 taxable? In the time I spent writing this, I can imagine that at least $10,000 went to hookers nationwide...wouldn't 10% of that be useful to our hurting economy?
If two consenting adults agree to perform legal "functions" like sex, then there should be no laws against it. If one party agrees to give the other party some form of compensation for said function, it too should be legal.
How come getting around prostitution seems to be so difficult? So a man and a woman (or another man) have sex. Great. Hope it was good. The man pays for the service. Why can't they just separate the two things (Sex and paying for it)? Have sex and then give the woman (or man) money for something else totally unrelated to it. Say you are paying her for use of the room, but the sex itself was free. Have sex and use the room for a quick nap afterward. After the time is over, give the prostitute the money for use of the room for the nap and say the sex was no different than a one night stand.
I have suggested to a pot dealer that I know that he incorporate as a "relaxation consultant"...that way he could deposit his drug money somewhere other than a safe and pay taxes on it, and also make a 401(k) plan from it.
A prostitute could do the same. Sell her services to people on how to relax better. The sex is just a first-hand demonstration of one of his/her relaxation techniques. Maybe THIS is the way around it?
According to you (and excluding all other relative factors), Japan would have become a facist nation somewhere back in the Meji Era and STAYED that way until today. But they are not, therefore your logic is non sequitur.
Trust me, ya don’t wanna drag Japan, prostitutes and brothels into this debate.
During WWII the Japanese forced many of their female war prisoners into comfort girls* or geishas ( a nice word for forced prostitution).
Before WWII it was considered not done for a Japanese woman to have sex with a foreigner. Heck, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) made millions on American GI’s stationed in Japan wanting to go to (Japanese) brothels after WWII.
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*There are many images that linger in the mind after reading this new volume from scholar Toshiyuki Tanaka on the euphemistically titled 'comfort' women, the estimated eighty thousand to one hundred thousand (p. 31) Japanese, Korean, Chinese and other Asian and European women who fell victim to organised sexual violence by the Japanese military during World War II.[1] Like other works in this area, Tanaka employs a discursive framework that seeks to emphasise that the crimes committed against the 'comfort' women constituted not only the deliberate objectification and victimisation of women but were a crime against humanity. Tanaka begins his volume with an extract from the autobiography of Maria Rosa Henson, a Filipina former 'comfort' woman, who helped bring the 'comfort' women issue to light in the early 1990s: Twelve soldiers raped me in quick succession, after which I was given half an hour rest. Then twelve more soldiers followed. ... I bled so much and was in such pain, I could not even stand up. ... I felt much pain, and my vagina was swollen. ... Every day, from two in the afternoon to ten in the evening, the soldiers lined up outside my room and the rooms of the six other women there. I did not even have time to wash after each assault. At the end of the day, I just closed my eyes and cried (p. 1).
One of the achievements of this volume is that it successfully personalises some of the 'comfort' women. It exhaustively details the inhumane process by which they were 'recruited' or forced into what amounted to sexual slavery and the degrading day-to-day treatment meted out to them by recruiters, managers and soldiers if the women refused to 'comfort' soldiers, became pregnant or were ill. Even more significantly, this volume attempts to establish the figures that helped to implement the 'comfort' women system, including senior Japanese military officers, Ministry of War bureaucrats, brothel owners and their recruiters and medical staff.
Source: Intersections Review: Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation
Originally Posted by kb09 Trust me, ya don’t wanna drag Japan, prostitutes and brothels into this debate.
During WWII the Japanese forced many of their female war prisoners into comfort girls* or geishas ( a nice word for forced prostitution).
Before WWII it was considered not done for a Japanese woman to have sex with a foreigner. Heck, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) made millions on American GI’s stationed in Japan wanting to go to (Japanese) brothels after WWII.
I wonder if you read my post at all.
I'm not talking about WWII, I'm talking about prostitution TODAY in AMERICA. I simply used Japan as an example of legal prostitution in today's society. We all know the atrocities of WWII and Japan's involvement; no need to rehash.
Let's get real for a moment. Do you really think that if prostitution was legalized, regulated, and taxed that it would cause people to start demanding that individual rights be suppressed for the good of the nation (because in essence that's what a fascist nation is)? Do you believe that people would start dragging poor unsuspecting females off the street, lock them in a cell, and start letting the boys in to do what they want? If you do, I have one word for you; delusional.
Of course, you could just as easily ask: From a public health standpoint, why should prostitution be legalized?
If you ignore the issues against your position, it's very easy to come to the conclusion you want.
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The problem with the op is that economics doesn't give a damn about human misery.
I mean from an economic point of view Nazism really makes perfect sense.
Be that as it may, prostitution generally is illegal and it is the government who decides what is and is not legal.
BTW according to de Toqueville and de Maistre it is very easy to go from prostitution to fascism.
a nice word for forced prostitution).
Heck, the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) made millions on American GI’s stationed in Japan wanting to go to (Japanese) brothels after WWII.
