Aswad
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Joined: 4/4/2007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: fucktoyprincess
Yes, quite - I meant free as in no wages for the actual worker. I would argue that even with the economic payments that were made (purchase price to slave traders and room and board) that the owners of slaves came out way ahead, and it is undeniable that the slaves had nothing to show for their hard work in the way of cash.
How does this differ from the average worker in the USA?
Except for having troops around to catch runaways, I mean; we were talking about the expenses of the wealthy etc., after all.
quote:
I would also like to point out that a certain percentage of slaves in ancient cultures were conquered peoples who were not purchased as we would normally think. 
A substantial number, no doubt. To which I can only say "currency, schmurrency".
Under the doctrine set forth by Gaius Marius, the common man was incentivized to participate in conquest by the promise of land, which meant exporting the culture of Rome to conquered territories quite effectively, and most of those territories were wholly subsumed since there was little in the way of actual enduring resistance once their armies had been broken and always an ample supply of traitors willing to support their Roman overlords.
As a consequence, you could certainly say that future wealth was used to pay for the acquisition of slaves, which again resembles what we have today, again with the modification that we're more civilized and less honest about it now; more "soft touch", as it were. Wages are paid out in shares of indenture, after all, into which each new generation is born. Perhaps the largest difference being that we don't need nearly as many slaves now, partly because we don't approve of using them domestically or sexually anymore and have machines to do most of the manual labor. At the moment, the existing slaves fight to prevent competition from cheaper slaves from countries that are less wealthy, a sort of slave's guild at work, keeping the cost of slaves artificially high.
The actual citizens, some 5% of the population in the USA, just like in Rome, do have substantial assets and power, and use this to try to drive down the cost of slaves. Of course, just as the slaves are on a leasing arrangement now, the revolts are handled in downpayment and the low intensity conflict of riots, unions, politics, and so forth. Overall, though, it remains the case that slaves are ever content with the conditions they are handed, and unwilling to rise up for what they might become, which keeps the real citizens secure in their positions. Heck, I could just sit down and do nothing for the rest of my life, and there would still be lots of people around the world working for me, supplying me with the equivalent of about twice what most American families get by on, because they're indentured to me as a full citizen.
The nature of the beast hasn't changed all that much, just the form.
"Purchase" is a pretty protean concept.
IWYW,
— Aswad.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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RE: Individual Responsibilities for Storm Preparedness - 
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