[Alberta's Child]

Cheap labor INHIBITS innovation - look at ancient Egypt and slave based civilizations.

You've got a very good point there. In his autobiography, Frederick Douglass describes how amazed he was at living standards in the North after he escaped from the plantation in the South where he was born and raised. Black laborers in New Bedford, Massachusetts -- who were not fully "free" in any sense of the word -- had a higher standard of living than most plantation owners in Maryland where he lived.

[iconoclast]

Black laborers in New Bedford, Massachusetts -- who were not fully "free" in any sense of the word -- had a higher standard of living than most plantation owners in Maryland where he lived.

Wow. That's right up there with the Wal-Mart/Catholic church post for the most jaw-dropping of the thread.