> But I don't think employers see as much difference between labor wages and machine maintenance as you do. Of course they do. When labor is voluntary, the wag

> But I don't think employers see as much difference between labor wages and machine maintenance as you do. Of course they do. When labor is voluntary, the wage is agreed upon by all parties to the transaction. When labor is not voluntary then only the compelling party need agree. > You can make a business judgment about how well to feed or house your slaves -- or particular favored slaves -- in much the same way that one company might differ with another company over how much to invest in employee morale. This is like saying a rapist can choose to give their victim jewelry just like a husband can choose to give his wife jewelry. It ignores all essential differences in order to make a comparison that doesn’t exist. > Slaves can be compensated in numerous ways; one very common way in the American South was to allow them to practice sharecropping. That would be labor that was not compelled, but from which the slave was entitled to keep some of the gains, whether for direct consumption or commercial sale. (As opposed to ordinary labor, which definitely was compelled and all of the gains of which went to the landowner.) This model extended to slaves who could provide skilled labor. Their labor was in general not compelled; they often worked as independent contractors, dealing with customers directly. Like the sharecroppers, they were entitled to keep a portion of their earnings, and the rest went to their owner. I’m aware of sharecropping and manumission but I think you’re contradicting yourself when you assert that the slave’s labor was not compelled. It was always subject to compulsion, meaning it was compelled in fact even if it may have taken the form of noncompulsory labor. The slave was still subject to compulsion. There was no option for the slave to decline the arrangement and be free from consequences imposed by the slave owner. A man steals my TV from my house, he’s a thief and he stole from me. Observing that he did not also steal my toaster is irrelevant. > But these characteristics are much more typical of slaves than unpaid labor is. You’re neglecting that “compulsory labor” is unpaid labor. You’re asserting a distinction without a difference.