“ Where did I say that they would have made more money by ending slavery and paying wages?”
I said that.
Your premise that ending slavery would bankrupt plantation owners is ludicrous.
Yes, ending slavery would have bankrupted the plantation owners, because the North was not going to pay any more for their cotton, but the land owners would have had to pay more to keep the workers.
Basic economics. Wages becoming more costly in relation to flat revenues results in bankrupt operations. Bankrupt plantations means plantations that can be bought up. Think of it as inhousing the growing of cotton for the Northern textile mills.