It clearly depends on the context. In the case of an Asian factory worker with no options better than living in factory dorms and working extremely long shifts

It clearly depends on the context. In the case of an Asian factory worker with no options better than living in factory dorms and working extremely long shifts at often dangerous tasks for little pay to make toys that stock Wal-Mart, the slavery label may have some truth in it. Toni Morrison has spoken a lot in these terms recently, and had a big impact in my thinking as she laid out her evidence. In the case of an American white or blue collar worker with a limited public social safety net it has more similarity to a feudal system. Matt Taibbi alludes to this in an interesting blog post today: http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/10/06/michael-moores-problems-are-our-fault/ http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/10/06/michael-moores-pr...