Thursday, November 23, 2017
All ours
DW discusses Arab slave traders in Libya auctioning off migrants from the black parts of Africa. Typical price was given as 800 dollars.
This 1863 NYTimes article estimates that a 'first class' slave sold for around $200 in Yankee dollars. It's hard to measure inflation before 1910. Some calculators give a multiplier of 28 for 1863, which seems low, but we'll take it. By that standard the 'first class' slave would be $5600 in today's dollars. (Bear in mind that the slaveowner wasn't paying the slave in money, but he had to provide housing and food and maintenance for the slave AND his family, even after they were old or disabled. The Northern industrial slaveowner paid wages and nothing else, and discarded slaves instantly when they were not maximally fit. Clearly the Northern system was vastly cheaper for the owner and infinitely less secure for the slaves.)
Nothing new about Arabs as slave traders. Arabs were the main source of those Southern slaves, and Arabs have continued the practice after most other groups switched from agrarian to industrial slavery.
What's new is the LOW! LOW! LOW! price, about 1/7 of the Confederate price.
This particular discount slave store didn't start until we killed Qaddafi and broke Libya. This is all ours.
Labels: Constants and Variables
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