From: "Madeleine Yeh" <myeh at wap.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: RE: [wsfa-forum] Giant step backwards in time (Not!)
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:41:53 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

   Lee;
    You are looking at "complete" economics.  The sheriff
is looking at selling stolen labor.  The state government
is paying for the prisoners' room and board, while the
sheriff is getting the money from hiring out the convicts.
 Also while free labor might be more efficient than forced
labor, the free laborer has to be paid and right now might
be doing something else.  This is Louisiana and a lot of
people have left in search of a better economy.
    Slavery doesn't have to make economic sense to
continue.  Its a lot easier to abolish if it isn't a key
part of the economy, but it normally takes legal action to
wipe out.  Slavery existed in Medieval times even in
places where most of the labor force was free.
    There have been several slavery convictions in
Northern Virginia in the last couple of years and others
around the country.  I thought this case especially
heinious due to government involvement.

   here is a recent case from California
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5135910.stm

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:07:01 -0400
  "Strong, Lee" <strongl at sddc.army.mil> wrote:
> While the FBI did arrest someone for enslavement in
>1985, that was a
> freaky exception to the rule.  A Pakistani couple
>imported a "servant" to
> Miami, FL and kind of forgot to tell him about the civil
>rights of
> immigrants to the USA.  Classical slavery is not making
>any comeback
> anywhere in the USA.  Forced labor as a punishment for
>crimes is a
> recognized part of the criminal justice system and is
>subject to various
> legal safeguards.
> It makes NO sense for sheriffs to arrest able bodied
>persons and to
> hire them out to "fat cats" since free labor is always
>more efficient than
> forced labor.  U.S. Grant married into a slave owning
>family (the Dents).
> He persuaded his wife, Julia, to free her 4 slaves and
>hire 1 free woman.
> Julia was certain that the household would go to heck in
>a handbasket.  To
> her astonishment, the 1 free woman produced more work
>than the 4 slaves
> because the free woman had a stake (wages) in her own
>work.  Further, if
> forced labor were cost effective, the Communist world
>would have outproduced
> the socialist world which would have outproduced the
>capitalist world.  The
> opposite happened because free people will beat the crap
>out of slaves who
> are indifferent at best to their masters' success in
>anything resembling a
> fair contest.
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com
>[mailto:wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Madeleine Yeh
> Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 6:23 PM
> To: WSFA members; wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [WSFA] [wsfa-forum] Giant step backwards in
>time
>
> I think that slavery seems to be reappearing in the U.S.
> Look at this article about prison labor in Louisiana.
> I thought this practice was abolished decades ago.
>   It starts making economic sense for sheriffs to arrest
> as many able bodied people as possible and various fat
> cats get rich from not paying wages.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/us/05prisoners.html
>
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