Last time I checked 100 dollars spends the same whether it comes from selling crack or earning via paycheck. I have started obtaining discs and I might flood the market with 10k discs just to do it.
Incorrect.
All dollars are not made equal; where it comes from and how it is spent extremely important.
Let's look at a wage earner:
The most important factor in determining the value of a dollar (or $100, as it were) is your effective tax rate. If my effective tax rate is 30%, for example, I will need to earn $143 pre-tax in order to buy $100 of crack. It isn't always easy to think this way, because for most people, tax is deducted at the source. Many people incorrectly view $100 as $100, because that is what ends up in their bank...but it isn't the case. I will need to earn $143 gross (if my effective taxe rate is 30%) in order to have $100 in my pocket at the end of the day.
But it gets better... In the above example I am buying crack. The nice thing about crack is that it is a pure cash transaction, but most purchases require sales tax to be paid (plat included... though it may seem like crack from time to time).
So now we need to think about sales tax, because a $100 bill will rarely buy $100 worth of goods. Let's say sales tax is 8.5% in our hypothetical town, and I am buying something sold in a shop. Now in order to buy that $100 Leadbelly Remastered Box-set, I will need $108.50 in my wallet. In order to have $108.50 in my wallet, I will need to have earned (drum roll)
$155 pre-tax.
So $100 to our wage earner is $155 worth of effort in the workplace.
Now let's look at the crack seller you mentioned:
Crack sellers often deal in cash, and to the best of my knowledge, they don't usually file taxes. So they really don't have to worry about income tax, nor sales tax, for the majority of their transactions. If they are established in their area, or funded from the top of their organization, they are most likely buying their crack in bulk, and bagging it into smaller denominations to be sold individually. There is very little overhead.
The most important thing to remember about the crack seller is that they don't have to deal with taxes for the most part. They might pay sales tax from time to time, but the money might be stolen anyway, so it is of very little importance to them. They might not even understand sales tax. From time to time the crack seller might be given something in lieu of payment (such as a stolen firearm). They will then keep this for their own use, or try to sell it into the market in order to get their crack's worth out of it.
Problems can arise when the going rate for a firearm is $200, and they sell it for $50. They don't care, though, because to them it was like a free iTunes apple.
$100 to a crack seller is very different from the wage earner's $100. Very different.
Now this is mostly to due with sentiment of money, and what needs to be earned in order to have a certain amount of money. You mentioned spending $100... indeed, you are correct that spending $100 in a 8.5% sales tax town has the same effect regardless of where it came from: you get about $92.16 worth of goods. But let me assure you... if you think that $100 is the same to everyone, you are gravely mistaken.
