"They never pay the slaves enough so they can get free, just enough so they can stay alive and come back to work." I suspect the author is being intentionally

"They never pay the slaves enough so they can get free, just enough so they can stay alive and come back to work." I suspect the author is being intentionally misleading regarding the costs of staying alive. It doesn't take $20,000/year. More like $5,000, and even that is being generous. Early Retirement Extreme and other books cover this in more detail, of course. I do agree with the overall sentiment of his article, but the concept that the current state of affairs is some kind of intentional conspiracy is incorrect. People like the security of being indebted and forced to work, it seems. They are not forced into such a life.