wealth extraction

ICE Detention Contracts: Public Cover for Private Profits

by

Federal-private detention contracts exemplify wealth extraction—channeling public funds to profit-driven corporations. This analysis focuses on ICE detention contracts.

  • ICE routes detention funding through cities.
  • Cities retain a small administrative cut.
  • Pre-selected private contractors capture the bulk of profits without competitive bidding.

This local mechanism forms the third tier of a broader three-tiered extraction system: federal agency diversions, legislative reallocations from social programs, and city intermediaries via IGSAs.

In 2025, Congress appropriated $75 billion to ICE over four years—tripling the scale of this extraction system.

This post expands on a shorter version published on Substack: ICE Detention Contracts: Cities as Intermediaries for Private Profits.

Read more

ICE: Structural Defects and Constitutional Consequences

by

ICE: Legal Standards, Mission Creep, and the Erosion of Accountability

ICE shouldn’t exist as currently structured. The agency was created in 2003 by merging two distinct functions with different legal standards and oversight mechanisms: immigration law enforcement (formerly Justice Department) and customs enforcement (formerly Treasury Department). That merger created the structural problems that enable today’s violence and extraction without accountability.

Read more

Stephen Miller: Racism as a Governing Tool

by

Ideological brokers provide the narrative framework that makes extractive policies appear reasonable and even necessary. Stephen Miller exemplifies this role by framing immigration as invasion and rights as conditional. His positions supply the justification for enforcement expansion, visa limitations, and resource redirection—enabling wealth extraction through structured policy while limiting political participation for targeted groups.

When Extraction Reaches the Breaking Point

by

Jake, David, and Sarah

Jake works in HVAC. Good trade, steady demand. He shows up, does the work, comes home exhausted. Three months behind on rent. His truck needs a repair he can’t afford, and without the truck, there’s no work. He sold most of his furniture last year. When his buddy forced him to come out for a beer, his buddy paid. Jake hated every second of it.

David has the college degree his parents helped pay for. They believed in the promise that education opens doors, and they wanted this for him. Now he’s 34, working contract jobs with no benefits, moving between gigs that pay $19 an hour after a year of searching. His mom fell last month, broke bones, and the medical bills are piling up. He can’t help. They won’t ask. Everyone knows his situation is worse than theirs; at least they have a house.

Sarah works full-time at a job with actual benefits, which makes her one of the lucky ones. She still chooses every month: bills or food, rent or car insurance. Her relationship ended last year when the money stress became too much to carry. She logs into social media sometimes and sees people her age buying homes, getting married, having kids. She’s happy for them. And something in her chest stays tight and heavy.

Their parents’ lives were built under one economic math; theirs are unfolding under another.

Read more

Income Taxes Measure Income, Not Wealth

by

Recent reporting showed a large increase in individual income tax receipts. That figure reflects changes in taxable, realized income. It does not measure changes in wealth, asset accumulation, or who captured the largest economic gains. For most households, income and economic gain closely overlap. Wages and salaries make up the majority of earnings, and nearly … Read more

Oak Flat: Federal Land Policy Turns Cultural Continuity Into an Extractable Asset

by

A copper deposit beneath Oak Flat in Arizona has put a public landscape, a living religious site, and a multinational mining venture on a collision course. The dispute is often framed as a clash between “jobs” and “tradition.” The record shows something more structural: a federal land transfer that enables a private firm to convert a high-value public and cultural asset into a long-term mineral revenue stream, while the community that depends on the land absorbs permanent loss.

Read more

Foxconn: Building the Deal

by

From “Eighth Wonder” to AI Megasite

In July 2017, the Trump White House staged a celebration announcing that Foxconn would build a $10 billion LCD manufacturing complex in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, promising up to 13,000 jobs and hailing it as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”1

State and local governments lined up nearly $3 billion in state tax credits and hundreds of millions more in local subsidies and infrastructure to make it happen.2

The site looks very different today.

Read more