Is slavery no longer an economically viable option?

[DonFerrari]

TheLivingShadow said:

richardhutnik said:

TheLivingShadow said:

I can't figure out whether you people are for or against slavery...some of the comments here repulse me.

Not sure if anyone here is in favor of slavery.  If you speak about the Yes Men, and the video, I suggest you do a bit of research on them.  Their story is one how people who don't do proper due dilligence invite them to speak as a representative of the World Trade Organization, and they expose the downside of globalization of trade.

If you question what I wrote, well, I would have to ask if elimination of slavery ALWAYS produces situations better than slavery itself.  If you have an environment where people work for less that what is needed for them to survive, which happens, is that better than a situation of indentured servitude, with maybe government enforced minimum standards on the quality of accomodations.  Like, for the indentured servant, the individual who held the contract of the indentured servant would have to provide minimum health and living accomodations.  Yes, we go into animal cruelty here, but why not have that?  Do we want to have a society where people end up bagging groceries for tips only, and hoping to be able to live?  In Mexico, people bag groceries for tips.  Is that something worthwhile to have? 

Maybe there are economic conditions worse than slavery people can end up going through.

1. I didn't watch the Yes Men video, I don't care about it either.

2. I understand what you mean. Can I assume then you're pro-slavery? Because that's what you come off as.

I live in a country (Ecuador) where your Mexico example is true. People who bag groceries for tips is commonplace and expected. There's also people selling random stuff on the streets. There's people (usually little kids) that clean your car windows during a red light and expect you to pay them back a few cents even when you seriously say "Please don't". There's others who sing or juggles for you whenever you come across a red light in the streets, and then are those with some alledged disease or problem who just ask for money. All of them for just a few cents.

Gas companies employ people to put gas on your car, so I was surprised when they didn't have that or the bag groceries people in the U.S. (though it's a good thing that they don't here).

Women as young as 15 years old go around asking for jobs as maids. Most middle classed people have at least one maid.  These maids I describe usually live in your house and do all the house cleaning chores, the breakfast, lunch and dinner and even buy groceries for you sometimes. They also only have to get paid the minimum salary, though most families, including mine, also give them food and shelter (we even give food and shelter for her 11 year old child). The government also made us buy them health insurance lately.

Does this sound like the "slave" you describe? But it shouldn't, because they're not slaves. They work as maids and do the jobs described for a wage that's not bad, and they do it freely. The maid in my house can quit anytime she wants, and all my parents can do is talk her into not doing so, but she's not our "property" or anything like that and it's  her free will to decide. She also gets Saturday afternoon and Sunday off, and she can get holidays off too.

A slave is a human whose human value has been stripped off and replaced with a monetary value by the circle that controls the slave. However, the slave's humanity can never be really stolen, and that's why slavery is an extremely unethical act. In my opinion, slavery of any human is evil no matter anything else (although enforcing criminals to do productive work is a different story).

The people employed as bag grocery men are free to leave their job anytime they want, the same way they're free to get a better job, and guess what: asides from tips, they are also paid the minimum wage by whatever shop they're working for.

Now, as for the people living in the streets, I can agree that the economic condition of some of them may be worse than that of a slave. Does that mean we should let the upper-middle and upper economic classes buy them as slaves? Hell no. That's not the way to go around it. That's almost like saying (logically wise) that since the world is overpopulated, mass genocide is not such a bad idea. What should be done is get these people jobs so they can have dignity in their free lives, and get the kids and put them in orphanates or put them for adoption. Slavery is wrong, there's a reason the civilized world is done with it.

Some really tried, not sucessfull enough, as population keeps growing...