Usually I don't watch T.V. So I missed one interesting P.B.S. documentary on a form of slavery that continued after the civil war, in the south. What happened was prisons for profit were invented, and freed slaves having a hard time getting a job were often snared for vagrancy or other petty offenses and given crazy sentences on the chain gang for a sheriff or leased to mining and other corporations.
http://www.pbs.org/show/slavery-another-name/
That was a big business and continued until 1923...a little too recently.
Humanity has always discovered ways to procure cheap or free labor. Illegal aliens are the big item now for exploiters looking to pay below legal minimum wage.
The mortality rate of the neo-slaved blacks (it was usually black labor) was nearly 50%. As someone pointed out, slave owners cared about their investment staying alive somewhat, while leased slaves provided by for-profit legal procurers might have been regarded as nearly disposable since leased workers could be replaced for free.
http://www.pbs.org/show/slavery-another-name/
That was a big business and continued until 1923...a little too recently.
Humanity has always discovered ways to procure cheap or free labor. Illegal aliens are the big item now for exploiters looking to pay below legal minimum wage.
The mortality rate of the neo-slaved blacks (it was usually black labor) was nearly 50%. As someone pointed out, slave owners cared about their investment staying alive somewhat, while leased slaves provided by for-profit legal procurers might have been regarded as nearly disposable since leased workers could be replaced for free.
