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From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • 56 crack dealers saw this

  • i am sure all crack dealers are mad watching this in the audience.........

  • Why do americans laugh at everything?!

  • @dwyllie Because they are generally pretty stupid.

  • I live with my mother and I am a winner. :)

  • That was an interesting talk. A correction though, for a common mistake: it's not that selling drugs is dangerous, it's that selling (arbitrarily) illegal drugs is. Doctors, gas station workers, grocery store workers, liquor store workers, beer company owners & so on, are all drug dealers, but they have the (unfairly biased) law to protect them (even though alcohol is more dangerous than many illegal drugs).

  • You can tell this guy is really nerd....and an amazing speaker xD!!

    Wonderful speech!

  • This is exactly Chapter 3 of his book, in the Freakonomics. Amazing recap for me.

  • intresting but his lisp is awful and distracting

  • Comment removed

  • is this guy explaining or is he just cracking jokes every min that what seen to me

  • They are spoiled little boys. Not tough Men. They are bums.

  • That was really interesting

  • because they also use it, duh.

  • Amazing! I never thought that crack dealers kept financial records.

  • @brogcooper25

    All good dealers keep records.

  • and this is why the internet is awesome, this is fascinating

  • Right that's great TED. Now please can someone actually answer the original question.

    Why do crack dealers still live with their mums?

    Is it because there is no money in selling Crack?

  • @ironmanwill007 yess because majority of the people are foot soldiers, in the book i think it said they make like 3.50 an hour. only the top like 1% actually make the big bucks, so its just like any other low wage job, but a much higher chance of dying

  • @TsunamiTas yeah thats right. The vast majority of crack dealers are foot soldiers, there is a huge risk to dealers working on the street of violence and gun crime which is very high, the little amount of money that they make would make it seem like there is very little incentive to do the job? However, what makes people do it is the hope that they will one day be a gang leader or on the board of 'advisors' who in fact make millions and run the gangs.

  • no wonder most white people have big nostrils....this special episode of TED is proof. lol

  • @TheJovanist White people have big nostrils LOL, have you seen black people before & their wide ass noses?

  • nope in Rich boy - throw sum d's he clearly states trough his rhymes that he bought his cadillac selling crack!

  • damn man vsauce is all over the place

  • does TED stand for something?

  • @snorggerz309 Technology, Entertainment, Design

  • @snorggerz309 TEchnology, Entertainment, and Design

  • @snorggerz309 Technology Entertainment Design. I just got that from the other guys who responded to you. now, you and I know.

  • vsauce brought me here... kinda xD

  • he should work CIA drug running into his talks.. gangs do not grow, process and ship the cocaine, and they do not manufacture guns. they get them all from somewhere. I was personally around a situation where cops were making drops of massive amounts of cocaine to specific dealers in return for a cut of the money. They also protected these particular dealers and eliminated competition. Sick system we live in.

  • brilliant talk. 

  • I would say that this is one of the best talks from TED, however, I'd have to ctrl+v that comment on 1,011 videos

  • Introducing... Steven Levitt as.... MR CAPTAIN FUCKIN' OBVIOUS.

  • Comment removed

  • 4:17, " you can smoke crack cocaine but you can't smoke POT or cocaine " wtf? is this kid high?

  • @abcd2015 POWDER cocaine as opposed to CRACK cocaine.

  • @abcd2015 Powder cocaine.

  • @abcd2015 He says "you can't smoke POWDER cocaine."

  • @abcd2015 to get high from powdered cocaine (the salt form of cocaine) you gotta snort it.

    Crack cocaine are low quality free-base cocaine. Free-base cocaine can be smoked easily to get high.

  • this motherfucker is racist

  • @SwagOMGTV in what way?

  • @SwagOMGTV He's not racist dude. Your watching a TED talk, think harder.

  • @Chaicoffski Read Freakonomics (Steven Dubner and Steven Levitt) and you'll find that the higher-ups were actually quite smart, but due to the nature of their job, they were either incarcerated a good portion of the time, or dead well before they had gotten their enjoyment out of the money.

  • that's what I call a ''no shit'' theory..

  • This is sociology as an economic science. This is how it should be.

  • What I would give for a conversation with Steven Levitt in the park.

  • This guy cannot posibly believe what he is saying. If he does, he needs to do alot more studying. It doesn't work this way in most cases.

  • @Terry18table what?

    

  • @Terry18table what other ways does it work then?

    Of course it works like this, the drug/gang business model is a blueprint that is copied worldwide... if you study any drug dealing outfit, it will look very similar to a franchise business model such as McDonalds.

  • @Terry18table could you maybe be more specific with your comment about "it" doesn't work "this" way, and maybe tell us how "it" does work??

  • 53 people are only making $3.50 phr.

  • mmrr.. i guess i should just go ahead and study whatever then...

  • what a god damn dork

    i love it, hahaha

  • lol, he said niggers

  • One day, I would like to sit down with Steven Levitt.  I hope I get into Chicago's PhD program :)

  • at 4:21 he says you can't smoke pot!? uh most people do man

  • @DarkStatic69 No he didn't, he said you can smoke crack cocaine, but not powder cocaine. And smoking it was a better way to get high. Marijuana wasn't mentioned at all in that (bit of a mess of a) sentence.

  • @ds16653 ah i thought he said pot or cocaine....powder cocaine opps sorry thanks for the fix man =]

  • Too intellectual? Really? Maybe that's why gangs persist, people are too dumb to understand why they're an ineffective model (as are corporations). Any system that has few controlling many is unfair and wasteful in my opinion.

  • @bmgordita1

    I take it that you would prefer a system where many control a few? also, what is your definition of fair in order to call anything unfair? just asking.

  • There is power in knowledge , like the man said most are duped into the life without knowing what it is really about.Like the song says it's a long way to the top if ya wanna Rock and Roll.Not many get to be the big ape most are just crack monkeys,it's a real shame lots of good young minds go to waste or worse.

  • Crack dealers still live with their moms because their moms are the real gangsters. Among true masters of the underworld it is said that behind every good man is a good woman and behind every bum is a bitch. The gangsters moms are in fact gangster bitches who have chosen to raise rebels all by themselves and as they mature these gangster bitches eventually become mothers of the church, however, since the mid 70's these bitches have become so gangster that even the church has been abandoned.

  • @pc0p1mp It's their mothers fault? lol I bet you still blame your mommy for your mistakes. Cute

  • Wow I don't believe none of this well I KNO this isn't true. Maybe is cuz I'm from Brooklyn not Chicago but niggas be earning WAY more than this shit maybe its cuz tax. Idk but dis got me smdh

  • "and shit" is equal to all the unknown laws of physics.

  • I'm not that into this. It just seems way too intellectual and detached for me to really care about what he's trying to say.

  • @neroxtreme1380

    "too intellectual for me to care"

    wow. spoken like a true dumbass.

  • he's directing describing the book A Gang Leader for a Day by S. Venkatesh. Great read.

  • he forgot- 'lure' factor. He forgot 'latch-key' kids were the origin of this shit.Its not COOL2 hang home alone,u hang with ur buds.What R they up2?Drugs?Can u afford that shit? NO! So whatcha gonna do?SELL IT!-.then ya can nibble off the sides.Pays4UR habit.Then ur habit grows soU do buy+sell more. Consumer,supply+demand basics.Cultural aspect,.U have a community that works+plays together=stays together.What I want2know is what economy is paying4re-hab/medical4a global crack addiction?SHIT!?

  • rofl at 20:20

  • my business professor showed me this.

  • I first heard the term "rock & roll" in the very late '50-s but it was only a half-a-century later that I figured out what it means even though every other male on the block knew all too well what it meant ~ and for what it is worth the entire bail-bond system works on the fact that momma is sitting on the mortgage for the house which can be signed at the bail-bond company = thus is very profitable & sufficient to maintain a retail store front

  • @pzmtuthcvpvl yes American 'Justice' system IS big Business.Lets Make more laws+more inmate!WOnder how many more poor fucks they can lock up when you can legalize free labour out of them-whats the economy potential on that?Maybe we can buy some future shares-cuz thats when you can get 'em from both ends;in +out.

    .What does California bring in with DUI's alone?ANy1 got the freakonomics on that 1?

  • @friendlyfurtraders something to remember in a traffic stop is they stop people for a traffic stop if it looks like they have money

  • That talk was awesome. Easily one of the best talks on TED.

  • This was very good and interesting.

  • if you ever read freakonomics, you'll find that this is WAY more elaborate in the book... he did a good job tho to squeeze enough in 22 mins.

  • What an annoying audience.

  • Unlike most people he's totally not self-absorbed. And thus he asks the right questions. As opposed to the stupid ones. Vive le nerd!

  • @JohariAfiq I swear this guy speaks like Ali G ! 

  • The last few minutes were hilarious :)

  • look up Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh that's the guy he's describing! 

  • Missing meaningful TED lectures. Its all turning to empty care-bear fluff.

  • this was really interesting

  • well ill say if those are your guns you are in sad shape where are your assault rifles battle rifles your sig your ruger at the very least get a mini 30 for good sks replacement;) if your country is a pussified ak free zone i got a svd sniper , m14 , m1a , sig566, colt ar15, ak 47 x5 ak 74 x5 saiga assault shotgun 30 roung mag drum with a slug barrel to use armor piercing slugs with they make he shells as well but there not big enough to do more then blow up a dog house

  • you fucking posers im not american im a deul national see im still trying to keep my euro passport and my merican one to i should say that i find the mongrel comment to my little brother a fucking disgrace my family is muti lingual now thats not to say my english is not like a 2nd grade drop out but my blood is not mongrel you fuck you think you know a few things about my blood and family

  • I love the laughter in the background. These talks can get really humorous in their subject, almost to the point that you forget to take it seriously.

  • lol its safer being on death row then being a drug dealer lmao

  • you are clueless drug dealkers know there shit go cop a few caps a rock and stop get you a stem and hit tat shit my man you will go back i bet my last dollar you would be a bitch for base you are not in the game never seen the game never touched a gram of anything you can od just on the dust from pouder as you get ready to cook it the stuff gets into the air and you breath it in and your dead with that shit still un cooked on your stove !!!

    smack and crack rule the street and meth is growing

  • @pfunkmalfunkshun wtf batsh*t crazy haha

  • @pfunkmalfunkshun are you mentally retarded ? Mongrel !

  • CIA

  • Don't forget the money made in the gang business is tax free. So when u look at the numbers, add 40% or more to it.

  • @peilinsun lmao- what>?  This only means that the job is THAT much worse- It;s tax free and they still need to work at McDonalds.

  • @peilinsun lmao- what>?  This only means that the job is THAT much worse- It;s tax free and they still need to work at McDonalds.

  • Brilliant parallels between drug dealers and the corporate hierarchies. Although the language of corporate hierarchies perhaps do better at white-washing injustice.

  • @sethdesade

    No it doesnt take much to "cook" crack, but the first person to "cook" probably did it in a lab.

    The massive amounts of cocaine that were flown in by the CIA and distributed mainly by "Freeway" Ricky Ross (not the rapper) were also more than a little helpful in starting the "crack epidemic". (Ricky Ross opened his eyes while in jail, he also admits the spooks hooked him up)

    check out "Dope, inc." you can find it on TPB. It traces the drug trade all the way back to the Opium wars

  • The moment I saw "Thug Life" on the cover of the paper, I lost it.

  • @Benli159357 haha toshay benli it did sound like pot but yeah i can hear it now when he say it its powder not pot lol

  • the person sending said to this part of town was probably white and had nobody else to send there because no once was crazy enough.

  • At 4:20 LOL he said u cant smoke weed??? how the fuck do u take your weed lol

  • @cloughy666 He said "You can't smoke powdered cocaine"

  • @cloughy666 says powdered cocaine

  • In August 1996, the San Jose Mercury News initiated an extended series of articles linking the CIA's "contra" army to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles by reporter Gary Webb. The CIA's drug network, wrote Webb, "opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the 'crack' capital of the world." Black gangs used their profits to buy automatic weapons, sometimes from one of the CIA-linked drug dealers.

  • What's the other half of his conclusion that these ganglords independently came up with the corporate model for their gangs' financial structures? That our 'greatest' economic minds do nothing but run an unenlightened, despotic financial empire.

    Love, egality, justice, peace.

  • Thumb up if your first reaction to Question #1 survey was that this person asking it would be shot.

  • Finally im able to find an answer to this age old question

  • yes, the word sheeples can be a strong indication for insanity, HOWEVER, please notice I said SHEEPIES, as in a bunch of little sheep with a quirky scottish accent;-) So the question of my sanity is still very much open.

    Ah what the hell, your right. Im coMpleTEly FUckING BAtShIt INSAANE. Im actually watching myself type this. The only problem is, the people that run the show and contol your life in thousands of little ways are more than just a litle crazy.

    They are all Sociopaths.

    PeaCe

  • @MrMoustacheish

    wtf are you talking about?

  • legalize it

  • @JakeAmdahl

    dude how can you possibly call the CIA slanging dope a Theory?!

    ive seen about 5o newspaper articles on it (you know, mainstream news that the sheepies believe too),

    Olli norh fucking ADMITTED it, we are talking about facts here, not fucking UFOs.

    Drugs are important to the financial system, its a huge industry and it helps to patch up all the holes made by rampant speculation at the hands of the financial elite. Theres a pic of the head of wall street hugging the head of FARC.

  • @DJpopel

    Don't talk about mah friend like that

  • @DJpopel

    Well, I said that as a joke...and then i pointed out that it was indeed a joke...and then you said sheepies and I'm pretty certain you're crazy.

  • @DTX85

    fuckin A, bro. Anybody who hasnt figured out that US government and Intelligence is managing the drug trade has either done NO research, or they are delusional, because admitting this would automatically lead to..other coclusions which would so utterly rape their entire worldview that they would rather not think about it.

  • @DJpopel

    yeah man, I dig conspiracy theories too

  • @JakeAmdahl

    I'd like to point out that this troll was meant as more of a jest and less of a jab

  • gangs are gay

  • Was there more than one sampling than just one gang?

  • @mowriter

    How many gang leaders have you become friendly with?

  • @JakeAmdahl :apparently exactly one less than these guys putting forward their scientific study.

  • @mowriter

    Good answer

    

  • weak and shit. LOL

  • Excellent talk. most revealing line:

    "Coke is a great product. But you gotta know rich, white people"

    People, I know this sounds crazy, but have you ever heard someone say the queen sells heroin? Well its basically fucking true. Check out: Dope inc., the best book ever written about the drug trade.

    Think about it. the golde triangle was the number one producer of heroin during the vietnam war.

    Now, the number one producer of heroin is? yup you guessed it. Afghanistan.

    Crack was engineered

  • @DJpopel not to mention the CIA being caught shipping in tons of cocaine when one of their planes crashed in mexico.

  • @DJpopel Crack was engineered was it ?  By engineers ? Cause any child can make it with a few ingredients.

  • @sethdesade

    You're ignorantly pointing out its ease of cooking now, after it's already known how to cook cocaine into its purer form. Who do you think first thought of placing powdered cocaine in boiling water, and actually expected something stronger to come about it, an engineer/scientist or, as you put it, "any child?".

  • @lnfiniteKnowledge Yes EVERYONE listen up:  To make crack, put cocain in boiling water ! It's like boiling an egg, lol. Aids was engineered too right ? By the Government. For fun.

    Operation INFEKTION ftw

  • Is this supposed to be funny? Just because some asshole with a PhD studies mathematics, doesn't mean he know what he's talking about. This guy's info is very nondescript . And FYI, most drug dealers aren't actually a part of a gang, they'll pay taxes to a gang for the rights to sell on their turf which actually can be very profitable. Many people who join the gang do it with the hope of moving up, the same reason that someone may take a shitty job.

  • @Esuaci We let completely innocent people die every day. While we're busy providing food, health insurance, sex change operations, and etc. to inmates on death row, all around the world people die for a lack of basic necessities. So by neglect we murder people all day. You could execute everyone on death row today, kill maybe 1% who are innocent, take all that money you save, and save the lives of 10,000 people. But this would be thinking logically and pragmatically so it'll never happen.

  • @matrixinterface People get sex change operations on Death Row? That's news to me. I read once that most prisoners don't get very good health care. Also, I think that they should at least have enough food to stay healthy and not starve. Likewise, they shouldn't have snacks and other comfort food. Why is it that the prison system is so un-pragmatic at times? Try to keep politics out of this.

  • @shumich Try to keep politics out of this? Did you even read my original post or the comment I am replying to? If you look at my post I am merely pointing out that it has been scientifically proven that executing criminals (especially doing it publicly) reduces crime. This is a fact and has nothing to do with politics, it's a FACT. At 14:56 in the video the speaker is insinuating that the low death rate on death row is an indication that the death penalty is ineffective and I'm disagreeing.

  • @matrixinterface Link your proof. There are too many factors to make this kind of "scientific FACT" possible in the real world. The death penalty does not exist in a vacuum therefore you can not scientifically "prove" its effectiveness as a deterrent. You can only conduct surveys and examine different data that appears to allude to whether it is a detterent or not. I.E. you can *only* say it seems that this is a detterent because of X.

    You fail at absolutes, learn to science / philosophy.

  • @matrixinterface Your logic is clearly flawed. You assume a 1% rate of error. This assumption has no standing, is clearly weak and probably faulty. The qualifier "maybe" does not save your argument, it in fact weakens it incredibly.

    The rate of error may be smaller, it may be much larger but you simply can not make assumptions like that. These assumptions show that you are lacking skill in the field of rhetoric, logic, and debate.

  • @matrixinterface @matrixinterface Your logic is clearly flawed. You assume a 1% rate of error. This assumption has no standing, is clearly weak and probably faulty. The qualifier "maybe" does not save your argument, it in fact weakens it incredibly.

    The rate of error may be smaller, it may be much larger but you simply can not make assumptions like that. These assumptions show that you are lacking skill in the field of rhetoric, logic, and debate.

  • Exactly this makes it hard for any white person to be taken seriously by disenfranchised black America. The obvious racism and ignorance cloaked in the sheep's garb of left-wing thought makes enlightened white liberals like myself cringe.

  • I'm positive I've smoked powdered cocaine. I don't know who this guy hangs out with.

  • @eggbagel ...you can't smoke powder cocaine. If you put it in your weed, it doesn't burn. If you just try to light it it just scorches. It doesn't melt, it doesn't smoke.

  • @DumbledorePwnGandalf It doesn't burn efficiently, but you still get an extra buzz when you roll a cigarette with it. Did that for a while when my friends were using coke and I didn't want to snort it. Then there's option number 2 - freebase. It's still smoking and it's not really crack. Not saying any of it is a good idea, but saying people don't smoke powder just isn't true.

  • Brilliant lecture. Lots of great information and some good comparisons. Shocking that death rate for black teen in inner city was higher than a soldier in Iraq.

  • @brianplavery Not really, for a war the West suffered a very low death rate compared to the civilians that were killed during and still getting killed

  • @UKNMajor That wasn't really the point I was making. I knew that the death rate of US soldiers was lower than that of the Iraqi people. I do, however, still find it shocking that the death rate for a particular demographic of people in America is higher than the death rate of soldiers in a military campaign.

  • I would interject at 15:00 that if the death penalty was actually CARRIED OUT in a quick and timely fashion that it would be much more of a deterent than it currently is. Of course, it has been statistically and methodically proven many times that it does have a deterent effect on crime but only when people are actually executed. So capital punishment works just fine but only when people follow through on it.

  • @matrixinterface Yeah that would make a lot of sense and that's what the government should sensibly do. Allowing the innocent man a chance to disprove himself is incredibly important, but in reality, the government couldn't care less about that. In California the government spends more on prisoners than education and the reason is there's a PRISON INDUSTRY. Yes, companies make a large profit by keeping these people in jail, and they have quite a bit of political influence.

  • Fuk these bleeding heart millionaires at this corporate/military/ industrial complex sponsored "big ideas" fest. these mofos wouldn't laugh at the sh!t this presenter was saying if they had to live the life of the people they are in denial of putting in the ghetto. no mofos, i am white, but i know a convoluted bleeding heart liberal/capitalist presentation when i see one. "TED" IS UNSYMPATHETIC TO THE INHUMANE HUMAN CONDITION AND MOST OF THEIR MEMBERS FOSTER IT VIA THE "COMPLEX"

  • NIGGERRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS..­. ALL DAY NIGGERS... AND SPECIALLY IF THEY ARE NIGGGERR JEWWSSSSSS....... IM ABOUT TO SHOOT MYSELF WITH NIGGER JEW BLOOD AND RUSTED NEEDLES WITH FULL BLOWN AIDS..AARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH

  • hehehe he said niggers.:)

  • your sopose to be the smart nerd u jack ass stop askin questions... the answer is 1.that you dont have to buy 2 houses for u an another 1 for your mom

    2. you dont have to buy seperate food an items

    3. you get to be with your mom all day who u love

    4. your mom cooks an cleans an you just give her wat ever she wants

    STUPID!

  • 43 people sell crack and live with their mom.

  • Nerds!!  = Ogar

  • 43 people are CEOs that are weak and shit

  • This guy's clothes are sagging.

  • What an idiot! I haven't listened to the complete video, so maybe he redeems himself in the end.

  • How can there be so many offended people here? This guy is so blatantly self-deprecating, really obviously making fun of himself and his co-author's work -- and all I see are ignorant posts about "white people", etc., like it offends you that he's talking about research on crack dealers. WTF is slangin a sacred cow, that's its not acceptable for white folk to talk about? If you can't appreciate serious thinking and learning, if you resent intelligence instead of aspire to it, you're degenerate.

  • @iod3k Im suprised you are suprised by people not getting it.

  • @oUcHcro My surprise was rhetorical. Sometimes the Internet forces me to confront the fact that the majority of my species is intellectually challenged, and I get exasperated. We live in an age when there is a greater potentially for literacy in all subjects, and technology is pervasive, yet people still insist on thinking less and less. Civilization: F*ck it. The Unabomber was right, wasn't he. ;p

  • @iod3k *potential. Ironic spelling mistake while bitching about literacy. Happy New Year!!

  • @iod3k I think you are looking at it the wrong way, people never used to think that much it was just that before the ones not thinking didnt have the desire to express them selfs becouse it to much effort on the other hand those who had great ideas HAD to find a voice it was their driving force, now is the oposite - everyone can express their opinions no matter how stupid and not deeply tough trouh they are so you end up swiming in stupidity untill you reach something that actualy has substance.

  • @oUcHcro You make a decent point. I imagine a spectrum of depth, with text messaging and Twitter on one end and Tolstoy on the other. Now that I think about it, some of the most vacuous nonsense can be found in forums that employ the Twitter model of limited text, much like YouTube. Perhaps that relationship is significant. BTW, I feel thoroughly humbled over my previous exasperation. Well done, and thank you for salvaging the intelligence of this comments thread.

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  • 42 people sell crack out of there moms basement.

  • He reminds me of Gilbert from Revenge of the Nerds.

  • ok...mr.garrison :P

  • @Yurious1 We agree!

  • Listen to your speech? Fool, you are completely out of your league. Try comedy... you are a walking joke.

  • Books? Financial records? Board of directors? Just like mcdonalds? Yea right. This clown is taking advantage of white ignorance and building a career off of false info.

  • @knolram1 if you dont think dealers keep records (Who they front, what they owe, who is buying what) you're clueless. That's what books means. Its funny cause im a 20 year old white guy who knows more about this drug shit than you (I don't fuck with it anymore) and I'm in college now... I don't know shit about the board of directors/mcdonalds cause i was never in a gang. But from what I know, you're the one who is ignorant.

  • @Music2Phone Stay in college "20 yr old white guy". A mind is a terrible thing to waste.