Texas' million-dollar Murrays

You might as well mix this tidbit (0.00 / 0)

into the equation:

Study: Alcohol abuse costs state's economy $510M

From today's Missoulian

A new University of Montana study said alcohol abuse costs the state's economy more than half a billion dollars per year in medical costs, lost wages and productivity and other public and private spending.

The study was released Wednesday by UM's Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

"We collectively spend $510.6 million, or about 1.7 percent of the total state economy as measured by gross domestic product, dealing with the unintended consequences of alcohol consumption," bureau director Patrick Barkey said. "These costs represent what we all pay every year."

The unintended costs of neglect and abuse need to be figured into our social services calculations. Of course, conservatives and naysaying free marketeers will jump in and advocate the continuation of societal neglect as they are more than willing to absorb hidden costs than make an upfront contribution to the solution. Something to do with ideological purity trumping moral values.

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by: JC @ Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 19:15:56 PM UTC

I think.... (0.00 / 0)

that free-marketers will do whatever they believe will minimize the costs to society.  They understand that externalities occur and they understand that society will have to absorb those costs in some manner.  How that occurs is what is important.  The drug war is a great example of how this has gone tragically wrong.  If we had adopted free market ideas and not tried to aggressively control an uncontrolable problem, we probably would be better off.  Just something to think about.

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by: lutjic @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 04:42:22 AM UTC