Modern Day Slavery(not by me)

[seirachan]

This is something i found so true written by this person: http://rainej.deviantart.com/

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Modern Day Slavery. Very upfront topic, very many sub-topics to choose from. I'll try not to "ramble" this time. -.- You know who you are. WARNING: The second half(ish) may depress you.

Some would say modern day slavery is parents forcing their children into chores. I'm not talking about the normal pick-up-your-clothes or clean-your-room chores. I'm talking about the help-re-tile-the-roof and clean-the-basement-even-thought-you-haven't-gone-down-there-in-months. Whether or not those who say so are right is not of my concern. That is to say, I can't touch that.

Most people would talk about the sweatshops in China and the fact that those 200 dollar shoes could be made by kinds making maybe $2 a week. But, as you can see, I'm not most people. Modern day slavery is not just the people across the oceans. There's some in America too, just better disguised.

I'm talking about those working for low wages and doing everything under the sun and the moon. What else should you consider it? When you're obviously being stretched farther than you should be (than you job details) and earning less than you should be, isn't it the same as the sweat shops? In this case, it could be worse. America is supposed to be setting an example. How can you save those across seas when the people here are being pushed farther than the land goes? What I mean by that is that people are being pushed off farther than the dock extends, therefore being pushed into the water. And, as sad as it is, most can't swim.

People have too many hats on one head. Human heads aren't big enough for that, regardless of how big the egos are. We are not silly putty, nor Play-Doh (If anything, we are 999-piece puzzles: impossible to put together and your bound to lose a few which means you'll never be whole again once you leave that safe box. Heck, you might not even come with all of the pieces.). You cannot pull us apart and expect us to go back, just like before. We are not a product built by the wonders of engineering. We are people. The stress is making more and more become obese (from comfort eating and trying to feed yourself on less money than you should make) and die quicker (once again from the obesity and the fact that stress in general takes years off of your life).

Another example, a much more morbid one, is regular slavery. No one is safe from it. Men, women, and children are being sold all over America and all over the world. This is outright underground slavery. Human trafficking is the third most profitable crime, after drug and arms dealing. And once you're sold, you're gone. You'll never be the same. Things will happen that you can't undo, that'll scar you for the rest of your life. These scars will hold not a chance to the scar you got from falling out of that tree. This one is emotional, deep and growing. The worst part? It'll never fade.

Human trafficking is good ol' fashion slavery, just color blind (an improvement that I want to be proud of and I don't at the same time. Hey: It's progress. We're becoming to the point that the races are so equal that everyone's sold). Everyone is sold. Everyone is taken against their will. It's rare when someone comes out alive and even if you do, you're changed forever. That is slavery and it's happening today. Right now, some woman in Nevada is being sold to a pimp while a young girl in Wisconsin is being sold to a creepy old man. All while you're watching you CSI: Miami on the TV.

Slavery's not just over seas. It's in our backyards and alleys. It's in our offices. It's down our streets. It doesn't only come out at night and may not be obvious to see in the light of day. I don't care what Lincoln has done, what the laws say. It may be outlawed on paper and in history books, but it's still happening here, here in the land of the supposed "free." It has adapted to the times and moved into skyscrapers and under the official name of "business." It has moved online and towards the safety of fake names and accounts and rerouted IP addresses. We may have gotten smarter, but so have the white (and blue collar) criminals.

It's been 148 years (and 43 days) since former President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, about 145 since Congress made it official with the 13th amendment, and we still have slavery. Go figure.

AFTER NOTE:

[Okay, so I gave up on the not rambling thing. It's my blog, leave me alone. Wow. This topic is more serious than usual. I blame Oprah specials. I apologize for the lack of entertainment. But, you have to admit: slavery isn't something you can joke about should joke about. I say should because we all know that one person who can make a joke out of everything, even if it's the last thing he should ever do.]

I guess I just wrote a lot because it hits me hard. I'm African-American. Somewhere along the lines, my ancestors were sold and brought to America to work for the settlers. Yeah, that was fixed but it's back (did it ever leave?) and I feel trapped. I just can't win. And now, it's not because I'm black. It's because I'm young or a girl or attractive or just in the wrong place at the wrong time giving the wrong person the wrong idea. How is that fair? I know that life isn't fair it's just that, it's just that... this sucks, for lack of a better way to express it.

Lock up the children, the pets, and yourself, America. No one's safe from the terror. Not even a 14-year old Freshman who likes yellow and writing. I mean, come on! I am not for sale. I do not have a price tag on my foot or a bar code underneath my jeans. Don't even bother searching for one, I've just checked for you. Of course, whenever you don't come with a price, they'll just put one on you. They'll pencil it in on your heart, a pleasant thought indeed.

So, in an attempt to end this on a lighter note, how 'bout that NaNoWriMo?

AFTER-AFTER-NOTE: Wow. This went on longer than expected. I stopped earlier at 400 words. The minimum is 200. This is 1142. Call me an overachiever, I dare you.

[wolfmother]

just a coupe of random points not a full opinion. Being a slave traditionally means not being paid at all, working all day, having no rights like voting, shelter, family and food. oh and being beaten a lot. the world has changed though i now that i read your post i reckon slavery has changed with it. I cant speak for other countries but in australia it is a sellers market so to speak for jobs. I earn a lot more than average, probably triple the country's average wage, but i got my job through blood, sweat and tears and working 16 hour days in 65+ degrees celcius. was it slavery? no i was using a company for my needs as they were using me for theirs. but i am a lucky case because i got something out of it. Simply put i think if you truly put the effort in it will happen and a lot of people here do the toiling while hoping for something better and i reckon hope is an important thing to have.

[seirachan]

just a coupe of random points not a full opinion. Being a slave traditionally means not being paid at all, working all day, having no rights like voting, shelter, family and food. oh and being beaten a lot. the world has changed though i now that i read your post i reckon slavery has changed with it. I cant speak for other countries but in australia it is a sellers market so to speak for jobs. I earn a lot more than average, probably triple the country's average wage, but i got my job through blood, sweat and tears and working 16 hour days in 65+ degrees celcius. was it slavery? no i was using a company for my needs as they were using me for theirs. but i am a lucky case because i got something out of it. Simply put i think if you truly put the effort in it will happen and a lot of people here do the toiling while hoping for something better and i reckon hope is an important thing to have.

She's talking about being much underpaid for their jobs, right now you seem to have it alright. The US minimum wage is like $8 I think and it will never be upped their whole life. They will be expected to do above and beyond their job and just get udderly depressed, sometimes fired for the wrong reasons. On top of that if they wanna see a doctor is $50 a visit. Not counting if they have to go into surgery. I feel bad for Americans being Canadian with free health care on low income. I wouldn't really call it slavery myself but it is unfair.

In Canada you cannot live out on your own really. Houses in my town are $900 plus utilities. We make $9 an hour and still can't make it by(part time and minim wage is 8 but some places are nice enough to give us $9 for full time hours)

But it is the second half of this rant that is important.

[Koby]

The US minimum wage is like $8 I think and it will never be upped their whole life. On top of that if they wanna see a doctor is $50 a visit. Not counting if they have to go into surgery.

The minimum is like $7.15 or something I can't remember right now. I went to the doctor over a month ago and it was not just $50 as you said. They cut the Hospital bill in HALF and it was still $500, the doctor bill was $500, and the X-ray was $50. So even after cutting one bill in half they wanted over $1,050 for one visit.

[seirachan]

The minimum is like $7.15 or something I can't remember right now. I went to the doctor over a month ago and it was not just $50 as you said. They cut the Hospital bill in HALF and it was still $500, the doctor bill was $500, and the X-ray was $50. So even after cutting one bill in half they wanted over $1,050 for one visit.

yeah.. you guys should really get free health care like Canada like damn you make less money then us for gods sake

[wolfmother]

why are the minimum wages so low in america then? is it too many people to choose from so employers give the job to the ones who take less cash?

i like these discussions they make me think.

[Koby]

yeah.. you guys should really get free health care like Canada like damn you make less money then us for gods sake

Obama tried to push forth his Healthcare plan which would have made healthcare free to us originally or pretty damn close to it depending on how much we made, however the retarded Republicans don't want ANYTHING at ALL to change so they keep stopping everything. To get the bill passed a lot had to be removed and it ended up being nothing like he set out to originally pass. Now since the recent midterm elections where the Republicans totally dominated they are already talking about appealing the bill that did get passed and getting it removed which means I will actually lose any and all chance I had about getting any form of healthcare.

@wolfmother. Yeah pretty much, my friend Robert has been fired three times because Mexican's come here (a lot aren't even legal citizens) and offer to work for half the price. He was working as a cook for $10 an hour and they hired two Mexicans for $5 an hour each (yeah it's under the minimum wage which only goes to show they was most definitely not legal citizens). So they fired Robert since they then had two workers for the price of one (him). That's just how the world runs here. Businesses get closed because of the poor economy so that is jobs lost yet birthrate is higher and also we have people like them coming from other Countries and willing to work for a lot less which is why we have a near double digit unemployed percentage. They said on the news it was like 9.85% of Americans are unemployed right now and there just isn't enough jobs to go around to hire everyone. You go around town here and you do NOT see Hiring signs ANYWHERE anymore.. :/ I've been looking for a job for over a year with no luck at all. My mom was fired two years ago and has been searching ever since with no luck either. It's impossible to find one at this current time.

[seirachan]

Obama tried to push forth his Healthcare plan which would have made healthcare free to us originally or pretty damn close to it depending on how much we made, however the retarded Republicans don't want ANYTHING at ALL to change so they keep stopping everything. To get the bill passed a lot had to be removed and it ended up being nothing like he set out to originally pass. Now since the recent midterm elections where the Republicans totally dominated they are already talking about appealing the bill that did get passed and getting it removed which means I will actually lose any and all chance I had about getting any form of healthcare.

@wolfmother. Yeah pretty much, my friend Robert has been fired three times because Mexican's come here (a lot aren't even legal citizens) and offer to work for half the price. He was working as a cook for $10 an hour and they hired two Mexicans for $5 an hour each (yeah it's under the minimum wage which only goes to show they was most definitely not legal citizens). So they fired Robert since they then had two workers for the price of one (him). That's just how the world runs here. Businesses get closed because of the poor economy so that is jobs lost yet birthrate is higher and also we have people like them coming from other Countries and willing to work for a lot less which is why we have a near double digit unemployed percentage. They said on the news it was like 9.85% of Americans are unemployed right now and there just isn't enough jobs to go around to hire everyone. You go around town here and you do NOT see Hiring signs ANYWHERE anymore.. :/ I've been looking for a job for over a year with no luck at all. My mom was fired two years ago and has been searching ever since with no luck either. It's impossible to find one at this current time.

Damn It's like very American should try to become Canadian. That whole Mexican thing seems totally illegal. Where I work we have Pillopines(cant spell) that the government pays a certain percentage of their pay. But it costs a lot of money to be Canadian at lest for one of the pillopine girls $5000 if approved.

Are you guys on like welfare or something? Just something to pay the bills since it doesn't look like many people in your home have a job.

i guess this whole job thing is why some American's join the army. But it's really not fun there and your stuck for so many years and they pretty much own you. If you try to leave they say your a traitor or something and you go to jail i believe. A girl i know in the US got out for her sons sake saying she was taking all kinds of drugs and got discharged. She was lucky they didn't test her

[wolfmother]

that sounds bad. in aus we had the mining boom and skills shortage. mining is where i work and companies will offer good money so they dont lose you to a better paying job. And the skills shortage meant high offers to anyone who had a experience or really wanted to learn. Do you have a trade Koby?

[kickat3000]

When will universal health care be implemented? or did it pass at all?

[realmzmaster]

I would not call it slavery. Slavery has a whole different connotation. Unfortunately what it does come down to is economics. The largest employer of people in the United States is small business. It is not the large corporations. Large corporations hire only a fraction of the work force. The downturn affected small business at a greater rate. The small business owner has to the same or more with less. He/she may not be able to hire that extra person or may be force by economics to hire that illegal at a lower wage just to stay in business. Koby friend illustrates the point. I can get two for the price of one for the same amount of money.

Now some of it is just greed, but a lot of small businesses are bleeding red ink or barely staying a float. For example sit down restaurants are hurting. People cut back on going out to eat or are more price conscious avoiding upscale restaurants. Well those restaurants are not making money. It would be easy to say cut your prices, but that means less or no profit. If the restaurant cannot cover expenses something or someone has to go. If someone goes that means others still working have to pick up the slack. It shows capitalism at its worst. But that same capitalism allows people with the right idea to become billionaires (can anyone say Mark Zuckerberg).

It is economics and sometimes it sucks.

[† L4ugh]

The Health Care was a good try but all the addons that had to be added to it in order for it to get past will bankrupt this nation. The idea that it is so complete that no one will slip threw the cracks is outright stupidity, and forcing all those who can't afford insurance to pay a fine should be illegal (if it isn't already). A health care system similar to what Canada has would be awesome, but health care in this nation has become to intertwined in big business for it to really ever get off the ground and remain a success.

As for minimum wage, it is one of the biggest problems this country has. The whole thing just needs to be tossed out, because there is only one thing that happens when minimum wage is raised the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. This is because every raise is followed by inflation and CEOs use this opportunity to up their percentage of profits at the expense of the blue collar workers the pay raise is suppose to help in the first place. What they need to do is institute a Maximum Wage Bill. Tell them, they can pay their workers what ever want but the highest paid person tied to the company can't make more then 20x the lowest paid person. So say Wal-Mart only wants to pay it's cashiers $15,000 a year then the highest paid person linked to Wal-Mart can't earn more then $300,000. That would be a huge pay cut to those at top, who wouldn't be use to living like that. They will want to find a way to increase everyone's pay globally so they can continue to enjoy their preferred style of life. Now this at first would mean a loss of jobs but as those who stay behind begin to enjoy their new found wealth more jobs will be created to cater to their needs. Since all new businesses will have to follow the maximum wage law everyone with a job should get fare pay.

The only problem that would really remain is the lack of jobs, which could be fixed by putting heavy taxes on businesses that take jobs over seas and give big tax cuts to those who bring jobs back. Then set up some kind of program with Mexico that allows a set amount of Mexicans to temporally come to USA to do the job Americans refuse to do. Then pass a law that states if any business is caught employing undocumented aliens that a large percentage of their profits for a set amount of time would be forfeited to the government.

[realmzmaster]

What you are basically saying is get rid of capitalism and substitute it with socialism or communism ? In a capitalistic society what you are suggesting is not feasible. If I have talents that other individuals do not have should I not be paid what those talents are worth?

If I am a skilled heart surgeon with a 90% success rate I should get the same amount of money as a surgeon with a 50% success rate? If I am Michael Jordan, (who owns quite a few enterprises) I should get no more than 20X what may lowest employee gets? Jordan's endorsement of a product can generate more money than just some company employee.

How do you decide which workers from Mexico are allowed to work in the USA? How do you identify the jobs that Americans will not work?

[† L4ugh]

What they need to do is institute a Maximum Wage Bill. Tell them, they can pay their workers what ever want but the highest paid person tied to the company can't make more then 20x the lowest paid person. So say Wal-Mart only wants to pay it's cashiers $15,000 a year then the highest paid person linked to Wal-Mart can't earn more than $300,000.

What you are basically saying is get rid of capitalism and substitute it with socialism or communism ?

Socialism - any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

Communism - a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

I fail to see this on any count, because the government isn't setting the pay, the company sets their own pay. The law would only state that the company has to have a fair ratio of pay between the lowest and highest paid person on the payroll of that company. If you have someone who has more than one business then they can't make more than 20x the lowest paid person per each business they own. Each business is treated as a separate venture as long as it isn't linked to one of the other businesses the person owns. I don't believe Michael Jordan is on Hanes' pay roll so his endorsement wouldn't be a part of their ratio or any ratio of any business he may own. If anything it would make up the profit of Michael Jordan Inc. in which he sells himself and his name as a billboard for someone else's products.

I would hope that there aren’t any heart surgeons out there with a 50% success rate and if there are I would hope that any surgeons with a 90% success rate wouldn’t be stupid enough to start a practice with someone so full of fail. I think you failed to understand what I was trying to say or just don’t understand the state of the American economy. If you go back to my Wal-Mart example, the CEO of Wal-Mart makes the yearly income of a new employee during his lunch break. The Walton family brings in tens of billions of dollars a year. Say one Walton only makes $1 Billion a year, divide that by the $15,000 income in my original example and you get something like 66666.66. What skill do the Waltons really have that warrant them to receive 6,666 times their lowest paid employee? If you want to go back to Jordan, I fail to see why he should really make more the 20x any of his other teammates. He may be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but if you would have taken away his team, he would have lost everytime. If you don’t like 20x fine make it 40x or 50x, but 66,666x is total BS.

As for the whole Mexican thing, I believe I said the jobs that Americans don’t want to do. Right now there are two kinds of illegal aliens working in the USA. The kind that take jobs away from US citizens (like Koby’s friend) by working for less wages, and the ones that slave away in fields picking fruit and vegetables for crap wages because the farmers can’t afford to pay them more and can’t find anyone other than illegals to do the work. If the farmers would raise the rates of their food enough to cover the cost of paying higher wages to attract US citizens to do the work. Then people in this country and around the world would most likely starve, riot, or both because they couldn’t afford the higher prices. It really sucks that it has to be that way but this is life and life isn’t fair, all you can really do is make it as fair as you possibly can. By having a joint program between the United States and Mexico that would put some kind of agency in charge of picking, transporting, and keeping tabs on temporary immigrants, and then heavily fining those who hire illegals would be the only way to stiffen the flow of illegal immigrants into the USA. Unless you want to build a massive fence along the entire border of US and Mexico, and then find the money to hire enough people to patrol it, you will never stop this without hurting US agriculture.

Would also like to note that the post above is a prime example of what is wrong with American politics. You get one representative who proposes an idea that offers real solutions to real problems even if it is still unfinished. Then you get another representative that decides because they don’t like the idea, the person who proposed the idea, or they are just jealous they didn’t come up with it first, slaps it with a socialist or communist sticker and then says back to business as usually.