Modern Slavery

... Kevin Bales explains the business of modern slavery, a multibillion-dollar economy that underpins some of the worst industries on earth. He shares stats and personal stories from his on-the-ground research -- and names the price of freeing every slave on earth right now.

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It seems that the rise in ER use comes not from the poor uninsured but from a much more affluent income sector. From the Wall St. Journal Health Blog: Rich, Not Poor, Are Crowding Emergency Rooms:
tags: How to Combat Modern Slavery, philosophy,

I'd like to know what's being done to convince people that slavery is not a good thing. For many communities around the world it's just what they've done for as long as anyone can remember.

By MadScientist (not verified) on 31 Mar 2010 #permalink

Is this not the global economy at work?

By Bill James (not verified) on 31 Mar 2010 #permalink

I read his book, Disposable People, a few years ago. A truly terrifying topic.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman is a great way to learn how this works in the americas, though it is a fictionalized biography.

@Bill James: What does this have to do with the global economy? At its core is a fundamental belief that some humans are superior to others (reminiscent of the divine right of monarchs). I'm better than you, you aren't worth anything, so I can do what I please with you. Slavery is/was present in many cultures and there are often various classes of slavery. Through the Indian continent for example you would certainly find numerous slaves whose slavery really has nothing to do with the global economy. This "I'm better than you" attitude is also very apparent in Chinese society; it's an imperialist attitude which even the communist government has not successfully stamped out. Hell, we even see the same attitudes in the USA - have you ever spent much time with the "upper class"? No movie I've ever seen comes anywhere close to expressing the contempt which many of the elite have for the rest of the nation and the world, not even that movie about Leona Helmsley.

By MadScientist (not verified) on 01 Apr 2010 #permalink

Bill: Global economy by your definition is this: A 9mm bullet costs 50 cents. I want (or someone else wants) your stuff. I can have it for 50 cents. Right?

Or are you going to squirm back and forth and make us use more than one bullet.

Or, are you going to grow some humanity in that pointy head of yours.