The quote specifically mentions American inequality. There are no legal slaves in America currently. The closest thing is sex trafficking, and that is very cl

The quote specifically mentions American inequality. There are no legal slaves in America currently. The closest thing is sex trafficking, and that is very clearly not what the author was referring to. EDIT - I would also like to point out that a fundamental point of this article was that the economist discovered it was basically more fair and easier to escape poverty prior to 1970.