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I stumbled upon a fellow in a quarry in Northern India who'd been enslaved his entire life. He had assumed that slavery at birth. His grandfather had taken a de

I stumbled upon a fellow in a quarry in Northern India who'd been enslaved his entire life. He had assumed that slavery at birth. His grandfather had taken a debt of 62 cents, and three generations and three slave masters later, the principal had not been paid off one bit. The family was illiterate and innumerate. This fellow, who I call Gonoo -- he asked me to protect his identity -- was still forced to work, held through fraud under threat of violence for no pay beyond subsistence. My first thought was, "Wow." My second thought was, "I wonder how many people end up in similar (very loose sense of the word) situations based on lending that's occurred in the last 5 years.

yummyfajitas 17y ago
What "lending over the past 5 years" are you referring to? Microfinance? Or are you talking about credit card debt in the first world? In the US, the only consequence for failing to pay your debts [1] is an inability to get further credit. [1] Child support debt excluded. You go to jail if you can't pay that.
- diN0bot 17y ago
  maybe the op was just wondering what amount of slavery he could personally have prevented. that was the thought that crossed my mind. not that "throwing money" at a problem is a reasonable solution, but how different is my perspective on money than "a slave." or rather, i wanted to add that perspective to my thought process. ps - donations to credible organizations do help. pps - somewhat relevant fiction making the rounds these days by Stieg Larsson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson I really respect Larsson's response to things he felt were immoral. he set out to change them. 1+ investigative journalism.
jerf 17y ago
In the presence of the choice to go bankrupt, if one freely choose to go nuts working to pay off your debt which you freely entered into, that's a choice that should be respected. That's two more "freely"s than the people we're talking about get, and I think it rather takes it out of the same domain altogether. In some sense I am a "wage slave" working for the man, but I freely chose it, and even suggesting that this is anything like actual slavery is unproductive at best (and probably offensive). I know hatin' on the capitalist system is fun and all, but it's been a while in the places where the bad lending occurred where it is actual slavery.

yummyfajitas 17y ago

What "lending over the past 5 years" are you referring to? Microfinance? Or are you talking about credit card debt in the first world? In the US, the only consequence for failing to pay your debts [1] is an inability to get further credit. [1] Child support debt excluded. You go to jail if you can't pay that.

diN0bot 17y ago
maybe the op was just wondering what amount of slavery he could personally have prevented. that was the thought that crossed my mind. not that "throwing money" at a problem is a reasonable solution, but how different is my perspective on money than "a slave." or rather, i wanted to add that perspective to my thought process. ps - donations to credible organizations do help. pps - somewhat relevant fiction making the rounds these days by Stieg Larsson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson I really respect Larsson's response to things he felt were immoral. he set out to change them. 1+ investigative journalism.

jerf 17y ago

In the presence of the choice to go bankrupt, if one freely choose to go nuts working to pay off your debt which you freely entered into, that's a choice that should be respected. That's two more "freely"s than the people we're talking about get, and I think it rather takes it out of the same domain altogether. In some sense I am a "wage slave" working for the man, but I freely chose it, and even suggesting that this is anything like actual slavery is unproductive at best (and probably offensive). I know hatin' on the capitalist system is fun and all, but it's been a while in the places where the bad lending occurred where it is actual slavery.