Thinking about the concept of “labor aristocracy” and slave labor as the bootstrapping basis of American wealth and, y'know, ~Marxism~

And I think of that pizza place in college that turned out to keep slaves, the ambiguously post-Ottoman owner who enthusiastically greeted everyone as “my friend!” had two old country guys living in the basement working the ovens 12 hours a day for $5 while he held their passports

And I learned that the summer after I graduated, until then I knew it as the best pizza place ever, they’d have slices of like 20 different flavors on hand for like $2-3.75, stuff like cheeseburger or BBQ chicken or broccoli Alfredo that would be a whole meal in a slice, and if you were there just before closing you could get anything for $1

And 2 guys, 12 hours, early-2000s NY minimum wage, that’s $158 in costs a day he’s saving.

(Really more than that, counting overtime weekly and considering taxes and mandated benefits, I’m sure he’d want to discount the expense of bringing them over and room and board in a desirable neighborhood)

Without that, prices woulda probably been $1 more a slice, selection would’ve trimmed, or he wouldn’t have been so avuncular. Probably all.

So from experience, that’s what it feels like to be hooked into a slave economy. Doesn’t feel evil, doesn’t feel like you’re getting away with things. It feels like the ideal bounty that things everywhere should be, presided over by friendly pillars of the community.