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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (8315)	3/13/2001 5:06:51 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

If you consider the slaves animals (which they were considered) you can see it was as capitalistic as any other kind of animal husbandly. You can of course try to wriggle out of the fact, but slaves were clearly bought and sold- their market prices fluctuated- it was a "free market" system for everyone but the slaves (who weren't human like whites- as defined by the system). I do not believe there were even any price supports- as there are in modern agriculture. So the industry of slavery was probably more a free market capitalist system that our present agricultural system. A slave country can be considered capitalist quite easily. Capitalism does not require you not to trade in human capital. In fact, it requires it. Workers, slaves, all human capital. cap·i·tal·ism (kp-tl-zm) n. An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market. (no reason this can't mean human beings being privately owned) cap·i·tal1 (kp-tl) n. 2. a.Wealth in the form of money or property, used or accumulated in a business by a person, partnership, or corporation. b.Material wealth used or available for use in the production of more wealth. c.Human resources considered in terms of their contributions to an economy (Absolutely no reason this cannot include slaves): “ [The] swift unveiling of his . . . plans provoked a flight of human capital” (George F. Will).