Posted on 09/26/2019 7:28:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Recently there seem to be an increasing number of claims that American prosperity resulted from slavery. This is presented as justification for the renewed calls for reparations for slavery, which Democrats are using in an attempt to gain support as we approach the next presidential election. But did slavery actually create the wealth of the U.S.? Does this claim have any historical basis in fact, or is this a distortion of history to influence the views of voters?
We should all agree that slavery is an immoral institution in which people are treated as property and work, not for themselves, but for the benefit of their “owners.” It is an extractive economic system that shares some characteristics of feudalism and communism. They are all extractive in the sense that work is extracted from laborers who benefit very little from their own efforts, and as a result do not have much incentive to work hard, to make improvements, or to innovate, even though they may be faced with threats and coercion.
Lacking the motivating force of self-interest, such systems have proven to be highly inefficient, as well as inhumane, and hinder economic growth. So, while a small elite can live well through the efforts of others under these systems, the overall economy suffers, there are fewer opportunities, and a lower standard of living for members of society as a whole.
If we consider the historical experience of other nations involved in the slave trade, it could help our understanding of the issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
It hurts the victimhood narrative - but slavery produced very little real “wealth.”
Like all state-controlled or forced labor rackets, it can not compete in efficiency, output or even pricing with free labor markets. Yes - it benefits those few in control of the monopoly, but it penalizes everyone else.
If southern slavery was economically efficient, the south would have won the Civil War. Brazil would be a world super-power
No. Slavery created the inner cities and the poverty/victimhood industries.
Worst mistake our ancestors ever made was bringing Africans over here.
They also destroyed a lot of the built up wealth in the South.
Bkmk
Still is... But now it is not race selective, it encompasses all races. It was never “Free labor”, it always did cost a minimal amount of maintenance to feed and house slaves. This is still the case now, but instead of being fed and housed on the plantation, we are given a small weekly paycheck to be fed and housed remotely. And rather than owned by any certain individual, we are all now co-owned in a rotation labor pool to be swapped and traded like baseball cards.
Cheap labor is why the South didn’t industrialize and why they lost the Civil War.
Cheap labor in our farming culture today has inhibited innovations in farming - - other countries are making. Grape picking machines etc innovating while we’re hiring illegals. Like all toxic incentives, cheap labor works in the short run and fails countries in the long run.
That said, we can be thankful cheap labor crippled the South or we might not have won the civil war against them,...
Too much thinking. Eggheads and their rabbit holes of mental masturbation come up with the stupidest ideas.
If slavery created prosperity then the history of the world would be dominated by wildly prosperous nations rather than subsistence hellholes.
Facts. Pfffftttttt! Like nuzzlin’ joe declared for the demokkkommies, they have chosen truth over facts. But, thanks for the info but to paraphrase Mark Twain: “No amount of evidence will ever persuade and idiot.”
Most of the heirs would probably never have been procreated thanks to famine, disease and warring tribes had they not been spirited away from Africa. Ergo, they owe someone something.
The dems tout “slaves” at every turn. Trump says our economy is the best it’s been so it must be because of today’s slaves.
America was the first country to escape the Malthusian trap (around 1820). England was a close second. This happened for the first time in history because of the existence of the combination of:
rationality
capital accumulation and capital markets
technical advances and technological progress
private property and other natural rights.
It was actually American prosperity and technology that made slavery obsolete.
Seems like the Civil War decided this. The industrial North, which didn’t have slavery, overcame the slave-driven rural South with economics. We had indentured slavery from the colonists, but it was a black ‘owner’ who filed the court case ultimately legalizing involuntary slavery.
Thank goodness for Willis Carrier who invented the first modern air-conditioning system in 1902. Far too late to prevent the Civil War but a major factor in making the deep south a more hospitable place to live and work. It’s hard to imagine living in Florida without A/C.
Hilarious
Ask Scarlett or Rhett
What was Gone With the Wind?
Two generations ago everyone knew
How much did slavery in Africa ever build up the African tribes?
Something a lot of people do not understand is that the US Government was funded by tariffs for decades prior to the Civil War. Tariffs were taxes placed on imports.
Imports were paid for by exports.
The South produced the vast bulk of US exports in the decades leading up to the Civil War. In 1860, the South produced between 73% and 85% of the total US export value for the nation.
This means the South was responsible for creating 73% to 85% of all US taxes funding the government.
Washington DC mostly spent the money in the North. Very little of it was spent in the South. The Big city liberals of that era were financing all sorts of government subsidized train systems, often that went no where.
Same then as now. Big city liberals loved them some big spending government programs that would produce trains to nowhere.
Nope. It was the 4 to 1 manpower advantage the northern armies had, and the Southern armies almost beat them anyway.
As long as we are sharing family stories my gggrandfather
fought for the Union cause. But 40 yr old Clemiel did
not hail from the safety of the Northeast. He lived in the
relative belly of the beast in Southern Missouri
within a few miles of Arkansas. Clemiel served as E Co
Commander of the Missouri Homeguard. After a skirmish he,
his oldest son and friend were betrayed and captured.
Instead of taking them to prison per orders they were
marched to a secluded area. Clemiel and friend, John,
were executed. Clem’s son, Sam, was wounded but
escaped. After a long healing period Sam joined Gen
WT Sherman’s army. When the war was done Sam returned
to Stone Co and visited lethal revenge on those
neighbors who murdered his dad, including the betrayer,
his own father-in-law.
I hope you all enjoy this true story as you sign over
your reparations check.
Ok... The reason the had such a population advantage was that they didn’t have as many kids... because they didn’t need as many kids... because they had slaves to work the farm.
The South would have won if they didn’t have slaves, period. But likewise there would never have been a war if they didn’t have slaves.
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