Krugman: America Has Become a Digital Narco-State
Imagine … if the United States were to legalize … heroin… [It] would quickly become a huge, multibillion-dollar industry [and] would become a significant part of GDP, even though heroin harms and often kills those who consume it. Given the increasingly naked corruption of U.S. politics, the heroin industry would be able to purchase massive political influence, enough to block any attempts to limit the harm it does.
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If this story strikes you as extreme or implausible, here’s what you should know: replace “heroin” with “social media,” and this is a description of actual events.
Or replace “heroin” with “plastics” or “fossil fuels” or “opioids” or …
Unbounded GDP growth. Ash nazg durbatulûk.