*I USED TO WORK WITH ABUSE VICTIMS* I was often stuck by the fact that a middle-class victim was often trapped in a psychological prison by the abuser, whereas the working-class victim was trapped in a far more *real* financial prison. I could coach the middle-class victim to see their circumstances differently and to leave [and they did] but you can't coach a poor person to get in a car they don't have and leave.

Slaves had their food and shelter taken care of. A wage slave is now in a very precarious position the average salary barely covers food and shelter.

I have often thought that one of the cruelties around slavery in the U.S. was that freed people, with no education, few possessions, no money, often illiterate with only basic skills were turned out on the road, families and all to fend for themselves. Turned out to a hostile society, to suffer starve and wander until they found a way to keep things together.

Cooking your own meals definitely makes a difference, frozen veggies and fruits are great way to cut costs. Also, rice, beans, potatoes will fill you up and are still affordable, add in a little protein, rolls, you got yourself a nice meal. Oatmeal and pancakes, those are cheap meals and fill you up. Dollar tree saves you a lot of $$$ Going to garden this spring, can't wait to grow my own food and get a solar generator, even catch some rainwater After living in a car for over a year, very grateful for this tiny home camper near the moutains, peaceful. My health has improved greatly already

"Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors." - Charles Bukowski (1920-1994)

To adress a minor point covered, "we live in a far better condition than before; we dont work as long and cant be fired at a moments notice". Unfortunately I live in a "right-to-work" state and was told directly to my face by the HR Head "you know we can fire you at any time right". She did this to my face, on two seperate occasions, then fired me for having a "disrespectful outburst" in a meeting. I was then forced to explain my actions, I explained my recent Autistic diagnosis and the fact that I felt threatened in the meeting. Even if you know nothing of autism, know that in a tramatic meltdowm moment for an ASD person to talk through it and explain themselves that takes a lot! I was then badgered further for my outburst and told, "youre very high functioning for an autistic person. I have a family member whose autistic, so youre high functioning". I was terminated immediatedly, no write ups or procedures followed. Just terminated like a passing thought. Theres no legality to be had, we are currently in some very dangerous slave labor times...its just veiled SLIGHTLY better with even more people brainwashed... And she didnt even use the "right-to-work" fear tactic correctly in my opinion given the phrase definition... P.s. I come to find out weeks later when applying for unemployment the employer was trying to contest me receiving money too which effectively locked me out of any claims to assistance. They want you to be subserviant, then if youre no longer needed they toss you aside expecting you to get nothing further. This is the reality.

Whether you are a slave to a capitalist or the the State, we cannot escape the nature of work in a post-domesticated world, and the fact that no one is truly free.

Slavery in America was never abolished, it was renamed. The new name for slaves in the current times is, THE WORKERS.

Every day I am re-radicalized 😤

If you see this, it means I'm streaming right now on Twitch! Come hang out!!! twitch.tv/germinaal

Great video! I think the one point that is missing here is that even if you successfully start a business or find a way to subsist aside from wage labor, one's direction in life is still dictated by the need to make a living. Unless you are so financially secure that you can pursue any project you like, you will still be forced to exercise your freedom within the narrow constraints of capitalist survival and profit - and likely rely on exploiting other people or the environment. If people's needs were met and each person was free to direct their labor and energy as they see fit, people could play to their strengths and pursue the projects that are most necessary and meaningful for both individuals and the collective - an impossibility when the exercise of freedom is restricted by profit!

In the 1980's Thatcherism in the UK push the idea that only losers didn't own their home, that rent was wasted money. They deregulated the financial markets & allowed banks to provide mortgages with less savings ( a deposit) than the traditional Building Societies that imposed conditions i.e. had to be a regular saver for at least 2 years & had to have a minimum deposit of 10-20%, the multiple of the man's wages was limited to x3 & a wife would only get 0.5% if working. Banks on the other hand would offer higher multiples treating husband & wife the same & never ask the question the building society would of "do you intend to give up your job to start a family?" Many people didn't realise that they would over a 25 year mortgage pay back 3 times the value of the house to the lender or thought this was good to get on the property ladder. A house became and asset to be traded to get a bigger house & a larger mortgage rather than a home. So people became indebted & had to rely on good fortune to increase wages & good health plus security of employment to prevent foreclosure, the loss of the house & all the money they had paid monthly over time when the property was repossessed by the lender who would then sell it to another mortgage holder. The European Union brought in "The Working Time Directive" that limited employees hours of work to 48 hours per week averaged over a 2 week period. The right-wing government allowed an opt-out in the UK for managers. This led to many companies redefining workers as managers & those who refuse to sign the paperwork & accept the new job title being demoted or fired under the guise of restructuring the department. In the 21st Century we have seen the rise of the gig economy & "independent contractors" whereby workers have been stripped of their hard won rights & forced to accept low pay & longer hours just to keep a roof over their heads. The condition of a wage slave has become ever present as the social safety net is cut back & birth rates drop not by choice but due to economic necessity.

I just want to support your content, it's extermely well put together and interesting, so much that i fear it will not reach as many people as your art videos, but at the same time, it's maybe more important

Thank you for taking the time to discuss this issue.

I'm very releived to observe that more young people are moved to expose and discard false dichotomies. I'm proud of being gen-x but the current generation is far wiser than we ever were.

This is awesome, I have two collage art pieces on the subject of wage slavery.

So, he "was" against slavery until he realized there are White slaves? WOW.... Told y'all slavery is just an antiwhite pretext.

Yo this was helpful and I totally dig it. I will check out more over time before Patreoning but keep doing your thing. The world needs your view and information.

Wow this was very insightful. Thanks for the time and effort you put into this.

We will always support this channel. They have the best insights.

My favourite anarchist art channel ❤

Oooh! This is so so interesting! Again, thank you for all you do. Always so interesting. Always learning something new.

Indentured servitude is a much better defining phrase, that's why in America there's a social security minimum age (which seems to rise every few years now) with the implication that one day you'll retire, that day, rarely comes on time if at all.

Looking forward to this!

Great points. Well presented and a great conversation starter. Thank you.

Such a beautiful and easy to understand content. I wish you protect this content and no abuser in any form could bring it down :)

One of the best channels on youtube, keep up the good work 🦀

Slavery was not predominant in the North. And if anyone is attacked on a collective scale through corpratism it's Westernkind. Not Africankind.

Canvas pleasee I got work tomorrow!😭✋🏽 (great video!) will be joining Patreon

Wait. If a wife was the servant of her husband, then wouldn't the husband also be the servant of the wife being that he doesn't financially gain from her labor, but she does from his?

If you can be enslaved while earning income, then what defines slavery? I think slavery is defined as the absence of Authority over one's Responsibility. There is this tone-deaf cry for people to assume responsibility over this or that, you see this in the work place, as a bill to one's character always sent by people who seemingly relish at the chance to divorce Authority and Responsibility. Simply put it rests within our social hierarchy that people desire to do this for social status. AND THAT is the true prize. I've heard arguments that the slavery ends with automation. I don't think so. There is something profoundly evil in the hearts of men, that drives them to lord over others. And I think it rests within man's relationship with Civilization.

Can't belive I haven't seen this till now thank you for your work

The right to choose one's master is only a benefit if there is a better master to be had. There are no better jobs available to us, we can merely choose which devil to serve

Classes do not exist in a liberal society. There is simply a gradual degree of worth of property, that can be freely exchanged, which makes the type of property meaningless.

Fabulous intro! Looking forward to your take!

Video is very educational. Also your hair looks wonderful

I would simply like to say, you put together a very great argument and presented it very well. For an argument such as this, dealing with significant topics, it’s extremely important to create a very balanced, objective, and neutral argument and to present it well, all of which you have done. 👍🏻

totally unrelated comment but it came to mind while watching this video so im leaving it here - i worked as a groundskeeper for a fairly large apartment complex (300+ units and the hundred or so acres around it) and was able to determine that around 4 - 9 million pounds of litter gets dropped on the ground across the united states every single day. if you want to know why the earth climate will totally collapse, its because we moved too much of its stuff too far too often.

I would also add that a wage slave is an individual who has less of an ability to bargain for the conditions of his employment than the employer. It’s why unions have all but been dismantled by corporate entities.

before they invented race, they practiced on the irish. i live in the northeastern united states. except for those straight off the boat, we're all part irish here, for thousands of miles around, even our blacks and indians (but probably not actual indians, for a generation or two, excepting, you know, the english were there a while too, and they bring their irish with 'em)

It is the duty of the proletariat to seize the means of production by purchasing shared ownership of the corporation through stocks and then reinvesting the dividends.

I really liked the bit at the end where you show that wage slavery at least provides an exit. You will always need someone to provide money/lodging for you until you become financially independant. The whole point of capitalism is to let as many people as possible break out of that cycle. One very minor counter point, working for yourself isn't technically freedom either by your definition. You still need others to give your goods value and provide compensation for them. So really it's just another way to sell your labor. Even if you go build a honestead and are entirely self-sustaining, you have to pay the government in the form of taxes; which you need money for, which means you have to trade labor/goods for money. Essentially, we will never attain true freedom. We can only decide where on the spectrum between freedom and security we want society to run.

I think you and @renmakesmusic would have an engaging discussion. Money Game Part 2 may interest you. He doesn't copyright, so it would be possible to play during a livestream without fear of a strike.

The saying that you have to work for an employer forever is not true but was planted in you through education. There are thousands of freelance and one person jobs you can do. Be a plumber or lawyer or whatever. I started a home restoration business from practically nothing. I would buy tools as the job required, then started buying some advertising. I never sought to exploit workers to earn millions but i never had to be employed. Iam not excessively smart or anything, just that i think for myself no matter how many times i am told something. Employment never made sense to me. Now im closing to 50, i am happy with the way i went.

As long as we Must Work, we are Not Free. (J. R. “Bob” Dobbs)

Have multiple routes of income so that no one has so much leverage over you that you become their slave.

Genuinely interesting arguement, well done Shawn

this is a masterpiece

So the question is raised: Who owns the land and how did they get it? What does Adam Smith have to do with Capitalism? If you search Wealth of Nations for 'education' you will find Eighty Occurrences. Smith wrote "read, write and account" multiple times. The United States could have made "accounting/finance" mandatory in high schools since Sputnik. How often have you heard economists suggest any such thing?

vaping and smoking are bad in different ways. one may or may not be worse than the other, but one is taxed so highly, for so long now, the government relies on their sales as much as tobacco companies. this is also a metaphor, if you follow

We have all been wage slaves for the last 150 years. It’s true when goods on the outside do up 10 percent and your wages go up 2 percent. Doesn’t take a phd to tell you the working people are screwed! Bottom line.

I'm always ecstatic,when I come across videos/info,like this I wish for those of us who are,acutely aware of the injustice,and inhumane system of capitalism,could escape it. 8 hours a day,when you commute to and from the prison job,only to arrive home,to prepare to go back,to the prison job,being overjoyed,when you,get time out from prison cell 8 hrs adds up to a lifetime,of imprisonment.

I like how you've enabled ads on your videos, very anti-capitalist of you.

John William Waterhouse - The Mermaid (1892) / Would you consider doing an episode on this? / Love your channel. 😊

They had this problem fixed in the Old Testament in the time of the Judges. The two biggest problems with modern capitalism are the concentration of wealth into the hands of an ever smaller minority and the accumulation of debt. The real current problem isn't wage slavery, its debt slavery. Currently fewer than 100 people on planet earth possess more wealth than the poorest 50% of humanity. At the same time the financial industry is sitting on $2.5 Quadrillion(2,500 Trillion) in debt, deficit and unfunded legal liabilities. If you look in the Old Testament, what you see is that when ancient Israel was founded, every man was given his own equal share of land. Every 50 years Israel would have a Jubilee year, when all debts were cancelled, and all men returned to the land of their fathers, which is to say, any land purchased in the prior 50 years was only leased out, and the lease expired in the jubilee year, the original family that owned the land retook possession without having to pay the lease purchaser. So ancient Israel didn't just have a time stamp currency, they had an entire time stamp economy. One other feature was that all slaves were freed in the Jubilee year. There was no king in the time of judges, it was called judges because judges were either elected or appointed at the local level, each property was the owners private kingdom, each man possessed his own independent means of production because he was a land owner. The hereditary priests were responsible for caring for the poor and the sick, they received a 10% tithe from the population, which is far more reasonable than our modern tax system where close to half of all wages go to paying taxes. Not only was there no king or royal family, there was no standing army, no government bureaucracy, as mentioned, each landowner was his own ruler of his own little kingdom, so he was his own boss, his own master and a slave of himself and no other unless he made a lot of very bad mistakes or had a long string of bad luck. Apart from that, so long as he didn't get drunk and gamble away his property, he would not fall into wage slavery or debt slavery. What ever misfortune caused him to lease out his land to cover expenses, either he or his children would retake possession in the Jubilee year. The Nation was ruled over by the Supreme Being, there was no parliament or republic, the laws couldn't be altered, so life liberty and property were safe from any legislature in session. They had to screw it all up of course.

I really appreciate this conversation, though its pretty hilarious hearing the pro slavery view sometimes and how out of touch it is. What I appreciate though is that often those arguments still make real observations about life and economics, or offer a perspective that we should consider even if we do outright think its wrong. It makes me wonder what does Adam Smith say about these things? What does Marx say? People may be surprised to discover that what these two observe are very similar, though their conclusions are very different. So i do support learning from those we may disagree with and this was an awesome presentation on the subject. It feels like slavery because we cant ever get out of living paycheck to paycheck, we can't ever own property, we can't ever escape the system of having to do what another tells you to do to survive. Its that general feeling that you don't really have a choice and won't ever get out. That may not really be true honestly since a lot of people do get out eventually, but a lot don't and work until the day they die. Whats most frustrating is the argument about money is often done using theory instead of reality. The theory that its a free market and if employees are unhappy they can leave and the employer will be forced to improve pay or conditions otherwise they will not have employees. But claims like that are true only sometimes. In reality as we all know the company has significantly more power and leverage. When you quit a job you no longer have money to pay for life necessities. When they lose an employee they merely miss out on a portion of production and money. The stakes are nowhere near the same and thus the playing field is not set for true competition. Until the public can have conversation based on the reality the topic will never progress.

I've been thinking so much about the current state of economy and how hard it is often to be valued even if you have a lot to offer. Is there any modern economic theory that proposes something different? I ask to you if you've read something like that, as I'm not versed in this topic whatsoever

Glad i found the channel

Lack of wages isn't what defines slavery any more than having a wage defines freedom. Do you feel free? Here's the thing: slaves can totally earn wages. Isn't debt repayment the reason for most slavery, at least according to those who wouldn't mind returning to that institution? I always ask people, "how much would you need to get paid to accept being enslaved?"

An business owner goes to work every day hoping he makes some money. An employee goes to know knowing they are. Its not nearly as one sided as you suggest. Most businesses fail and many entrepreneurs go back to being employees because its an easier and more predictable life.

anarchy and the golden rule ! you politely twisted my brain with that ... excellent !

You should read creature from Jekyll Island as well as tragedy and Hope for the synopsis tragedy and hope 101

I’m going to be honest, I much preferred the shorter, more brief art analysis videos you made before. Don’t get me wrong these videos are great in their own way, but there was just something spectacular coming on UKposts weekly to learn something new about art. Still love your though, keep it up.

Self employed or working as a employee we are all spaces to the market. Always gotta make money to survive.

In a capitalist system, the capitalist doesn’t exist without the laborer because the workers are also the consumers. Both are necessary for the system to work. The problem with such a system evolves around the level of comfort each party experiences. The optimum balance of such a system is one where both parties are satisfied with the their level of lifestyle. When one or both parties are unhappy with their lifestyle problems ensue. The goal of capitalism should be to ensure that all parties are at the very least comfortable with the lifestyle they experience. The standard should be set at a level all can reasonably agree upon.

With love from Texas!

according to the lie of the tragedy of the commons, a private owner has more incentive not to overuse their land, and yet since private ownership became the norm destructive exploitation has grown to a rate which threatens us all, and maybe all life, excepting, idk, tardigrades

It is my observation that when someone says something is "obviously true," it is not obvious, that instead he is spouting the approved belief of some group. If something is truly obvious, it doesn't need to be said. You have a very long-winded intro that is really only intended to convey the message "I hold approved beliefs, don't just shun me." I am going to remind you that slavery goes back to the dawn of recorded history. If you are going to tell me that most of humanity saw themselves as villains, you show that you are untrustworthy.

So wage slavery is something kind of similar to slavery in the Roman Empire where slaves could eventually buy their freedom?

Nobody is forced to be an employee. Start your own business and work for your self.

Could you please come back to the old topics of art you used to cover in your videos? You had the best flow and I just cant find another creator to speak abt art the same way as you do.

You know a system is inherently flawed, if one party of that system would never want to be in the position of the other party of that system. The capitalist and the labor are codependent. If they both need each other, is it fair that one feel as though they are less than the other? An economic system works at its optimum level when all parties feel equally valued.

Good analysis. It goes to show the nuance involved in property and authority is far more grey than a simple black and white dichotomy. This is what the Bible understood, and why Jesus didn't condemn slavery outright. Despite the superficiality of atheist condemnation, it seems a person is almost always in a master/slave relationship and freedom involves choosing who you want to be your master.

we ourselves need work...civilisation depends on the energy of all its citiizens. i get your point. but see no alternative. just ensure upward social mobility and people would work twice as hard and be happy too. if nobody works at all they will all be perfectly free corpses. [starved frozen and etc]...

"I want a nation of workers, not thinkers" - John D Rockefeller

you said slaves don't have wages by definition, but that's not true. the legal slavery in usa included wages, just not enough to live and no choice to leave.

Was the implication at the end supposed to be that profit is bad or something?

Awesome vid. Thx.

You say that obviously slavery is worse than wage slavery, but that is not obvious at all. Personally, I think both are wrong. However, there are many forms of both. And it is not at all clear that some forms of wage slavery are in any way superior to some forms of ordinary slavery. Into this mix of slavery, wage slavery is also late Western Roman Empire invention feudalism. Feudalism or as I like to call it free-range slavery. Your slaves are nominally free but they're typically tied to the land and they don't really have any alternatives anyway. This is much the same with many placed in the wage slave position. And as slave owners point out, whereas the person who officially owns another person feels some moral obligation to look after that person when they get old. Or at least that's the way some slave owners thought. The wage slave is free to choose and has rights and is not the responsibility of anyone but themselves (in the nonsense, false consciousness, they are made to believe). So after you, as a business owner, may have used their services throughout their life, you have no moral obligation to look after them. You can discard them. In fact, it's not even looked as you discarding them, because they were free all along, whereas if you just gave your slave, his or her freedom when they were old and could no longer work, a slave society might look badly on you for doing that. But society does not look badly on the business owner, when one of their employees has been used up and left to fend for themselves when they are old. And then as well as being wage slaves. You can also turn them into debt slaves as happens in many countries where they can't earn enough to live so they have to borrow and then they feel morally obligated to repay their debt and so you get them to sell one of their kidneys and then they can't work at all because they're ill. But their predicament is not your fault or at least that's the way those societies tend to view debt slavery and wage slavery. Those who profit have no obligation towards its victims. So what you think is obvious is not so obvious to others. Do these wage slaves and debt slaves really have freedom when compared to an ordinary slave or is it simply an illusion?

Taxes make a person more of a slave than their wages. We are currently losing 50%+ of our incomes to all forms of taxation, and we were perfectly capable of running govt and society before the income tax was started in 1913 (income tax was not given fully to the middle class worker until WW2 to "help" pay for the war). When I pay taxes I don't have a say where my money goes, and it goes to programs that I will never benefit from, while my own basic needs do are not taken care of first (I pay for others to have health care before I can even fully afford my own). We don't live under capitalism right now in the USA. We live under a socialist crony-capitalism oligarchy hybrid. I want the govt smaller and out of my life, NOT bigger. When has bigger govt ever been in the interest of the little guy? It is a false pretense to enslave us. Companies would have a much harder time making us their slaves if they did not have the help of the govt passing laws in their favor.

Please write a book

The wage slave concept is central to understanding why, like my union the IWW, I seek to abolish the wage system (that is the abolition of money and markets)

I gotta put this vid on a list for later.

Marx discussed this in conceptualizing surplus value. Every wage worker and every slave worked part of the day “for themselves” (that is, to cover the cost of their wage or room/board, respectively) and the remainder is harvested by the owner. And depending on cost of living, the wage worker has significantly more of their labor value taken than the slave. Marx did not disqualify the differences in physical liberty that exist between to two, but did draw the comparison to show how much better, arguably, wage slavery was for the owner class than slavery was.

The fallacies/untrue statements in this video include: The entire idea of wage slavery (which assumes there is no way to make money but to work for someone or own equipment). (Red herring fallacy, false dilemma fallacy) The definition of wage slavery which is so broad that basically everyone is included. (Moving the goalpost) The false premise put forth that you need to "obey the commands of the capitalists (whoever that is) to survive." (Either/or fallacy, false dilemma fallacy) The claim that you need to sell your abilities because you have no way of controlling the "means of production" (whatever that is). (Begging the question fallacy, cost fallacy) The transition from slavery to current working conditions. (Non sequitur fallacy) The ideas put forth in the video are worth addressing. But to make the assumption that you either work for someone or starve is ignorant of the opportunities of modern times. There are plenty of ways to create your own sources of income and have no "master" (the video also assumes that any kind of hierarchy is inherently bad which is not necessarily true either) which include things like being a youtuber, being a streamer, being a developer, being an online shop owner, ride hailing, selling personally made goods, finding opportunities to be a middleman in B2B or B2C situations, owning a website, etc. The idea that you aren't truly free until you don't work for someone and can be politically independent is certainly one to aspire to. So, we should be advocating for 1) better education to help give everyone an equal footing for intelligence and self development and 2) more accessible opportunities to create your own source of income instead of manufacturing/retail/customer service roles.

LOL. I don't need to own property to work for myself because of the nature of my work. Not only that but by not owning property its that much easier for me to work at cross-purposes to The Man.

Gonna Watch Later!

Jay-Z quote, you can't be free until you own your own.

My family told me that if I studied hard I would by and by get into a well paid profession and become well off. Alas! In the real world the professional institutions that have the power to give qualifications to students maintain blacklists of students with powerful enemies who want to suppress them. They stop taking examinations when they realisze they are barred by blacklist. They are then back at the beginning. What can they do? Nothing :)

"21st Century Workers are completely fine and emancipated... Contemporary Workers have the best living standards in the history of humanity, they have access to food from all over the world, house themselves, have children who can go to school and not have to work until they're at least teenagers, they have access to incredible technology, they can retire at decent ages... We're far from the worker who toiled sixteen hours a day and who could be fired at any moment." In some places, but definitely not in the Global South.

In most every case, at-will employees are free to leave anytime and go anywhere they desire. Too often, it's the comfort of the status-quo, or "golden handcuffs" that keep them bound.

Excellent.....

The problem with the socialist rhetoric is that it makes assumptions that things from capitalism would still exists under socialism. Remember since there's no capitalist class, there's no one to just have money or stuff for you to split with your comrades. You have to make it all yourself, which you are currently free to do. Wild animals are the only completely free beings, and you are free to go into survivalism, but surprisingly most don't want to.

Where there's a will there's a way.❤

8:00 I am a business owner. I started at 19 with NOTHING. Don’t give up on your dream kids

Things I have been thinking about for quite a while, don't forget about the term debt slavery, which in my thoughts is the slavery that is used the most these days

The invisible hand comes to mind. I believe if everyone just try to do what’s best for themselves without breaking the laws we all agree to follow, then most outcomes will be positive. I think the only role government legitimately has is when two parties have an arrangement that negatively effects a third with no permission or compensation. The need for good regulation is key but it is a double edge sword. If your not careful you run the risk of killing the golden goose. I admit that may be the only way to avoid disaster but I’d rather not start back in cave man days to find out.

this is why eventually capitalism will have to go, ultimately in capitalistic society the elite will eventually goble up all opportunities and monopolise entire markets (which has already happened), at that point over 90% of country population becomes "slaves", capitalism works best in new emerging markets not in old established ones. You cant have people being slaves for multiple generations with worsening conditions and have a happy society, so ultimately something has to change, I really hope we will not go in circles however because what I see is people wanting to bring back socialism, which is a really bad idea.

i believe capitalism begins at he same point in history as the western european age of colonialism and the north atlantic slave trade, about that same time race and racism were invented to justify the dehumanization necessary to such a system and manifest still in the on-going genocide against people of african descent, and other "black " and "brown" people. to this day. there were fore runners to all these but together the led to the nightmare dystopia of today. i in no way mean to minimize the particularly cruel system of the north atlantic slave trade by saying this. there is more than one intolerable thing in history. i also intend to clearly state my belief that forced pregnancy and military conscription are also forms of slavery

Join a industry Union and your interests are more likely to be protected.A union helped me a lot. With out one I would be on the scrap heap.