If the ridiculous scenario the GP suggested actually worked, we would see, you know, examples of it. You mean like all the documented examples people posted? (

If the ridiculous scenario the GP suggested actually worked, we would see, you know, examples of it. You mean like all the documented examples people posted? (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12178695 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12178695 for an example) Company towns enforcing debt slavery are an actual, genuine, true, real, factual part of US history. They existed. They really did work as described. People really did not manage to escape them. In several places it took literal armed revolution to break this system. So if your theory of economics somehow predicts that such things are impossible, the problem is with your theory of economics.