"People who believe that slavery is an efficient system of production are people who are ready to impose 100% marginal rates of taxation in the belief that doing so is economically harmless.
"Ancient Rome, Greece, Babylon, Egypt, India, China, and Africa too, all had slavery. None of them created the Industrial Revolution. Great Britain and the United States did create the Industrial Revolution, on a foundation of economic freedom and respect for individual rights. The great blemish of slavery played no greater positive role in the history of the US than it had played previously in the world, which is to say, virtually none....
"Slavery is as much an economic benefit as holding up gas stations. Not only does the gas station owner lose what the robber gains, but both his motivation to produce and his means of producing are reduced. A world of robbery, which is what slavery is, is a world of great poverty.
"This is why the standard of living of even the kings and emperors of the pre-industrial world was far below that of the average worker in any capitalist country today."~ George Reisman, from his article 'Slavery vs. Capitalism: The 1619 Project Not Only Ignores Actual History, But Basic Economics'
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Thursday, 24 September 2020
"People who believe that slavery is an efficient system of production are people who are ready to impose 100% marginal rates of taxation in the belief that doing so is economically harmless." #QotD
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It's worth noting that Medieval Europe had automated manufacturing plants (stone and wood mills), while Rome and Greece had sufficient mechanical engineering to make any number of marvels, including odometers and coin-operated vending machines. Greece even had a primitive steam engine. This makes their lack of technological progress even more baffling--they honestly could have started an industrial revolution, they had all the pieces. Slavery and cheap labor (serfs and the like) are a large part of why they didn't.
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