I was listening to a radio discussion this morning about how the markets have taken over every aspect of our lives. One tiny example of the many listed that struck me was the fact that people are apparently prepared to pay others to queue for them for entry to the FREE Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park that is). Then I had an idea about a sort of market efficiency that our market-bedazzled leaders might enjoy.

Imagine a man has been sentenced to a long prison term. Imagine that he is a rogue capitalist who made an enormous amount of money. But we admire that, don't we - making enormous amounts of money. So what a waste of talent to send him to jail. What if someone else were to do his stretch on his behalf - and be paid for his services of course, at something over the minimum wage? This worker might even take on a number of people's sentences simultaneously (how's that for productivity?), which would free up the felons to make more money while saving the authorities the costs of a number of prison places.

This should be attractive to the current political mind, no?