7 ms·
Slaves are still there, it's just that they are exploited through interest.
by emsy 12y ago
Slaves are still there, it's just that they are exploited through interest.
- jevgeni 12y agoPaying mortgage isn't exactly slavery. Inappropes.
- collyw 12y agoI think there are plenty of people in the world living in conditions close to slavery.
- jevgeni 12y agoYes, like, for example, victims of human trafficking. It's not the same as paying off a student loan though.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y agoIt's not exactly freedom either.
- jevgeni 12y agoThat's not the point. Any kind of contractual obligation isn't exactly freedom. The point is, that the comparison is still bad.
- fsloth 12y agoSorry, the definition of enslavement is coercion through direct and actual threat of physical violence and does not include other forms of exploitation. i.e. "Slaves can be held from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery If you have a mortgage you can still refuse to work and just become homeless. Company men will not drag you kicking and screaming to your cubicle and force you back to you home in the evening to watch X-Factor until you vomit and pass out.
- emsy 12y agoIt's not that I want to understate the gravity of slavery, but to set the bar lower to what can be seen as slavery (which makes the common definition of slavery an even worse crime). You can get people to work without compensation in more deceitful ways than brute force.
- mwj 12y agomiddle class degree educated white males on HN complaining about a mortgage being slavery...
- emsy 12y agoInterest leaves people impoverished and destroys families. But I'm sure you can see that from your mountain of moral superiority.
- fennecfoxen 12y agoUsurious interest can leave people impoverished and destroys families, sure. But we're talking about mortgages, here, and in the general case interest leaves the price of homeownership about the same price as renting, provides additional stability and helps build families. The real thing that leaves families impoverished and destroys them is when they have borrow half a million for a house to live in, only to find out that's only really worth about a quarter million a few years later during the economic crash, thus precluding them from actually selling it and moving somewhere that has an economy where they can work. That's principal, not interest.
- gnoway 12y agoI think the difference is that you get to choose whether to enter into the loan agreement, you're provided all the terms up front, and you have access to legal counseling prior to accepting the agreement. If you have to make a mental association between your mortgage and institutionalized human suffering, maybe indentured servitude would be a better (but still ridiculous) fit.
- 12y ago