In the past 24 hours we’ve seen tons of shocking info and revelations ever since Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. As the rest of the world laughs at us and as our country comes down off of the initial shock, or sheer delight (depending on which candidate you rooted for), there is more startling news that has surfaced in the wake of Trump’s victory- although stocks plummeted in many sectors as Trump won, the private prison stock has flown through the roof!
Why you ask? It’s assumed that is because after investors saw that Trump was winning, they felt pretty positive that mass incarcerations will now be on a sharp rise once Trump puts his ‘stop and frisk’ and immigration detention policies into effect, just as he’s promised.
HOW THE MUSIC INDUSTRY FACTORS INTO THIS
Some of the largest sole stockholders in the private prison industry are owned by the EXACT same companies/people who own the private prisons.
The private prisons who most benefitted from last night’s stock surge are CoreCivic (formerly named Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO. According to Huffington Post:
The largest private prison contractor, CoreCivic …saw its stock shoot up by more than 58 percent shortly after morning trading began. Stocks for the second largest contractor, GEO Group, rose by more than 28 percent.
Here’s where it gets tricky- According to HipHopAndPolitics, a company called Vanguard Group Incorporated is the largest stock holder in CoreCivic and is the third largest stock holder in GEO Group. Vanguard also owns a high amount of stake in Viacom and Time Warner. Viacom owns BET and MTV, while Time Warner owns Warner Bros. (which owns several music labels), HBO, and TNT. So as you can see there is an overlapping of industries, interests, investments, and money sources.
WHAT THE PRISON STOCK SURGE SAYS ABOUT THE STOCK HOLDERS & THEIR PERCEPTION OF TRUMP
So again, the same companies/people who have ownership in the major music labels, media outlets and the messages our children are getting through media, are the same companies/owners who – based on this recent private prison stock surge- are anxiously awaiting for their prison beds to be filled to the max with immigrants and African Americans at rapid speed. And in the meantime, the music artists will probably only help to keep the prison doors open for their loyal fans to get dragged through adorned in cuffs and shackles.
The next four years will be interesting.
