Friday January 25, 2008, 11:32 am
Lord guess I will have to get out my Bows and arrows if they come for me....just teasing...sick thought though and yes I see this happening...Noted Mark.

Friday January 25, 2008, 11:47 am
Yes it is. In our past present and future. Sad but true.

Friday January 25, 2008, 12:01 pm
There are many paths to slavery possible, and not all of them are limited to "browner people" we bring into this country to work cheap under slave work contracts or help setup factory slums for in their native lands. Slavery can happen to "white" America too, as citizens who once had inalienable rights are converted into "consumers" who mearley have limited privileges extended to them on a revocable basis by corporations.

Friday January 25, 2008, 1:01 pm
Nice english terms used in your comment David. : )
I'm gonna say..It has always been and will always be in existence until the end of the world and from the looks of things that may not be 2 long. As said above ALL races and cultures and countries have had this slavery ordeal going and still do this in various ways. It is all just another unfortunate part of life that we have dealt (some more than others) with since the beginning of time and will continue until the end. But like they say..It could be worse right? : \

Friday January 25, 2008, 3:00 pm
I simply use those words I felt were most honest and accurate to use. And yes, I think we remain a long way from understanding, whether often individually, and certainly collectivily, what it should mean to be simply a human being. You may be correct that such basic understanding may never be reached widely, but I tend to be a bit less pessimistic. The Lakota, for example, have a wonderful phrase, "mitaku oyasin", roughly meaning "we are all one", and it is when encountering understandings like this that I do find also hope.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 7:25 am
Well, we've had wageslaves in the US for a long time and this trend is just more and more entrenched, with fewer and fewer rights. It's no accident that so many professional jobs that require advanced degrees are moving offshore.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 7:39 am
Looking into the history of the human species we have not evolved in the slightest as far as the desire to get along and treat others with respect, truth and honesty. Even the most passionate among us will become riled and defensive easily when they feel their viewpoints are questioned or if they feel they are in the right, no matter what. We are all slaves in one way or another whether it is to our own destructive tendencies, to another person, an organization, a job, or a government.
Noted with thanks, Mark.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 8:20 am
Control of the masses is what it is all about-plain and simple-the cool thing about being poor in money up till now is that it has allowed me to be creative in survival in this world and how to do everything on next to nothing--I have just refused to be a part of this madness of debt just to keep us dazzled and enslaved to the dollar by the latest greatest gotta have now-pay for it later mentality. yes Gail what you said is true but there is a way around it somewhat- I know I live it- noted- thanks Mark -

Saturday January 26, 2008, 10:02 am

If lower wages are better for business profits, than no wages at all, or slavery, is best for business profits. Thus capitalism always leads directly to slavery as it seeks the cheapest, most exploitable labor.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 10:14 am
I recall Marx offered that the modern flesh "market in labor" was actually worse than traditional slavery, since the slave is only bargained once at auction, or on rare occasion, while the modern wage slave must constantly bargain for his or her slavery.

Saturday January 26, 2008, 11:33 pm
Thankyou Mark- Two dead whites come to mind- Adam smith who warned that the natural tendency of Global capitalism (then known as" Laisser Faire" ),was to depress wages to just enough to allow the workers to reproduce themselves; and Engels whose study of Manchester
during the industrial revolution in Britain depicts scenes and situations very simular to what is being called slavery here. Some of the speeches and presentations ofevidence that Raymond Williams refers to which took place during Britians first legislation Factory acts etc of 1832 ish are also illuminating.
I still am asking would a world wide government be able to regulate this better? Is such a government perhaps the only force that that could counter the multinationals?regulate wages? and coordinate the large scale enterprise that will be needed if global warming is not to kill most and perhaps all of us?
and get a viable plan for combatting global warming into action?

Sunday January 27, 2008, 12:52 am
Oh contrar, Penelope, government itself is part of the problem, and not the solution. I know some look at Adam Smith and, like the Keynesians, say, if only the greed of capitalists can be restrained by public institutions, all would be right in the world. The problem is any activist government of that nature requires the support of a permanently vigilant and permanently mobilized society, which is itself impossible to sustain and is not self sustaining. And when vigilance fails and society moves to or is misdirected to other issues, all that authority entrusted to such a government is now up for grabs by the very people that it was meant to regulate, and we get fascism. That path is a dead end to destruction.

The "electorial democractic" representative model of government is in fact particularly weak in this regards, as it requires and empowers a political class, who's interests are of course separate from that of the broader society. A participatory form of direct democracy should be better, at least because it eliminates the use of a political class to execute government authority, but the elimination of compulsory authority entirely is I think the best solution, including eliminating the ability of private interests being able to use the organized violence of the state to enforce their exploitation of others.