It’s not slavery. But, I didn’t say “slavery” so don’t use straw man tactics. It is better than before. But it’s still oppressive. There are shades of grey.

It’s not slavery. But, I didn’t say “slavery” so don’t use straw man tactics. It is better than before. But it’s still oppressive. There are shades of grey. In medieval times the relationship between serf and lord was also couched in the fancy language of promises and debts. That doesn’t change anything. And bear in mind that those stocks represent permanent ownership of the work output of people who may not have even been born yet. When the slaves in the American south were freed, in many cases they continued to work at the same plantations under the same masters as sharecroppers instead of slaves, with the ownership of property and land used as a lever to get them to work instead of owning the people themselves. A positive step? Yes. At least it wasn’t actual slavery anymore. And modern day workers have considerably better conditions than sharecroppers did. But there remains room for improvement. You probably can’t get rid of all forms of unfair leverage and exploitation. There is no such thing as utopia. But I do believe that every worker ought to own the products of their own labor.