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Comment by rphlx

Slavery was not fully eliminated in the US; it was just fractionalized, and the terms - which groups are enslaved, which groups are entitled to their output, and how much of it, etc - were obviously heavily modified. For instance you are able to change employers now, but no matter which one you pick - even if it's your own firm - in most highly-valued fields 40-70%+ of your output will be taken by various layers of government - by force if necessary. Your children are subject to the same obligation so "fractionalized chattel slavery" is a decent first-order description.

It is true that acts of extreme violence are less common than they were in the 19th century South, but that alone does not make the system "not slavery" given that a threat of overwhelming force still underpins it.

parent rphlx 7 years ago

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