There has long been a debate about how slaves were treated in colonial America. Records kept by slave holders suggested that they were grossly underfed. Archaeological digs however suggest that the 'masters' provisions were only a supplement to what slaves could grow for themselves, or harvest from the wild. But those were different times, land was plentiful, extensive gardens presented no problem, game and wilderness plantlife were plentiful.
Today we live in a much more dystopian landscape. While today's slave might be called a 'sales associate' or 'your server', he or she must still try to find enough to eat. This sage advice comes from the McDonald's 'employee only access' website: "...to keep from feeling hungry, break up your available food into small portions and spread them out." Ronald McDonald doesn't even bother to have a canned food drive for his employees like the pne that starving workers at Walmart get.
Mickey D's does have a number of tips for how its employees can get government assistance,with no mention of the fact that a business that profits billions should at least be able to feed its slaves. In fact, McDonald's could double its wages and only add 17 cents to a Dollar Menu item. At this pay scale McDonald's employees could afford to eat and have disposable income to stimulate the rest of the economy.
This "workers should have enough to eat" concept isn't in the billionaire's game plan. The whole point of high unemployment is to drive down wages to the point where people will not just work for food, but in order to have enough to eat they would be willing to kill those who oppose the billionaires. Jay Gould, a 19th century Railroad Baron, is quoted with articulating this concept. H said, "I can hire half of the 'working class' to kill the other half." It really wasn't a new concept with him, - this has always been the Conservative way. Liberals fought the British East India Company in the 18th century and the Confederates in the 19th over this very idea.
Conservatives constantly conflate 'free markets' with a 'free people', citing Communism and other nonsense. In an actual 'free market' you can buy slaves.The Revolutionary and Civil Wars were fought and won by Liberals over this concept of 'freedom'. It has always been an imperfect implementation, but now we're in danger of going back to a truly 'free market'. You could wake up in a factory complex with the slogan, "Work will set you free" above the gate, ("Arbeit macht frei" in German). The sign above the drive-though might not actually say, 'Arbeit macht frei, and would you like fries with that? '. But that is exactly what they mean.
Twitter @BruceEnberg - "we will all hang together, or hang separately" - attributed to Benjamin Franklin
