Lightway

Pershing Square Looks at Prison...as a Real Estate Play

Sorry, but prisons are the last thing that need to be privatized and opened up for investment. You have a non-market driven set of goods and services which is dependent on putting more people in prison. There is absolutely no place for this in society. We already have seen the entire world economy melt down because of unbridled economics, and this was in areas (banking, investment, finance, housing) where free market economics were supposed to be the most efficient. Do we really think privatization and investment in prisons is a smart thing to do? We've already seen rampant abuse of security contractors in places like Iraq.

The fact that Ackman even makes jokes about it is sad commentary.

“The biggest risk for Corrections Corp. is that suddenly lots of people stop committing crimes,” Ackman said.

That says it all. Sorry, the market is not the place for EVERYTHING. Besides, there are better places to invest your money.