Peonage, Wage-Slavery, and the Nationalization of Banks
By Ryan Healy | March 16, 2008
Seeing as St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, I simply had to share this article with you entitled “Today We’re All Irish: Debt Serfdom Comes to America” by Ellen Brown.
It is an excellent article about different forms of slavery: the traditional kind (as Americans think of it), as well as the debt kind, which Ellen says was created explicitly to replace the traditional kind.
Apparently, the elite didn’t necessarily like owning slaves because the owners were then responsible for feeding and housing them. So a new form of slavery was created where the “slaves” would feed and house themselves. It was debt slavery, also called “peonage.” Ellen writes:
This form of “debt slavery” or “debt peonage” was not just an accidental development of history. It was a deliberately-planned alternative to the slave arrangement in which owners were responsible for the feeding and care of a dependent population, and it is still with us today.
To understand the issue, Ellen discusses different forms of currency and banking. But don’t let that deter you. Read this debt peonage article from top to bottom. It’s well worth your time.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Want more quality articles about debt reduction and living debt-free? Then make sure you join my email list or subscribe to my RSS feed!
March 17th, 2008 at 5:12 am
I think deliberately created is more than a stretch, certainly as it applies to the UK. Maybe it’s true in certain segments of US social history, but not overall, after all most Americans weren’t indentured servants, serfs or slaves after their arrival in the US.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Plonkee - Nice to hear from you again! Perhaps the true situation is not as extreme as the article indicates. And like you say, “peonage” wasn’t a part of early U.S. history.
In the U.S. though, the creation of the Federal Reserve was completely intentional. That happened in 1913-1914. I believe the Fed is responsible for many of America’s financial woes.
So, yes, you are right. Peonage doesn’t apply to the whole of U.S. history, but only certain periods of time.