Tag: tax slaves

Guest Post By Paul Craig Roberts

Calculate your slave status before boasting of “American freedom”

For decades on or about April 15, I published a tax day column pointing out that working Americans in our time are as enslaved as 19th century blacks on cotton plantations. I never in 30 or more years saw any response from any economist, historian, or anyone. I think my statement was regarded as too fanciful for comment. People think of slaves as beings of highly restricted mobility who are bought and sold like commodities. In that sense, we are not slaves. But in a wider historical sense we are.

A slave is a person who does not own his own labor. He is purchased not to be abused and to have his mobility restricted. He is purchased for his labor. Slaves were brought to the New World not because of “racism,” but because resources were abundant and there was no work force.

Continue reading “A Free Person Is One Who Owns His Own Labor”