Funnily, it is demonstrably not cheaper. Study after study shows its not cheaper. But its not about what costs the state the least, its about making sure wealth protects you from suffering. If wealth protects you from suffering, it justifies being wealthy so that you can avoid suffering. The result is that the wealthy torture the poor for the sake of torturing the poor. Its supremely fucked up and saying they do it to be cheap lessens exactly how fucked up it is.

Like. I want to be clear. I'm not replying with all this to be contrarian to your stance. I'm saying it because more people need to see it and be aware of it. Most of the world lives in a society that's been built through torture. We've learned that torture isn't required for economies to work and for workers to produce what everyone needs to thrive, but the absolute wealthiest people need to maintain the torture otherwise they can't justify their existence stemming from this torture. It would almost be better if they justified it through sport. But its not even that. They have to keep torturing because if the torture they perform now isn't justified, it means the torture of the past wasn't justified