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Here’s the weird thing about slavery people...

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Besides actually chaining up fellow human beings…[Slaves chained up]

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…is that slavery doesn’t jibe with most modern laws of economics.

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You know how businesses spend all that money on barf-worthy motivational posters to increase

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productivity?

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Well, imagine how much slacking off, lack of motivation, deliberate sabotage employees would get up to if they [Employees working in chains]

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were literally enslaved.

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Let's think about slavery in terms of cash.

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Business owners want lots of people to have lots of cash to spend in your store.

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Lots of consumers equals more opportunity for that cash to go in the store owners pocket.

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That way they can turn around and spend the cash on other stuff.

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Like… that hoverboard they’ve been eying. [Store owner using a hoverboard]

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But slaves are completely removed from the cash economy.

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Because they don’t get paid anything for whatever grueling chores their owners think

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up for them to do.

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So the more slaves a society has, the fewer people there are ready to pump cash into businesses. [Slaves working]

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Fewer consumers, less consumer choice, and less people starting new businesses are all [The economy ship sailing and explodes]

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factors that end up torpedoing the economy.

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It's no coincidence that, at the time of the American Civil War, the North was wealthier

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and more developed than the South.

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Apparently, wearing hoop skirts while slaves who hate you work your fields is not nearly [Woman wearing hoopskirt on a field of slaves]

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as productive as actually doing your own work.

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Who knew?

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Slaves also made their owners a little anxious.

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Every boss knew that their employees were one opportunity away from killing them and [Slave kills owner]

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hitting the road.

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That probably made staff meetings extremely awkward.

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Despite these issues, every complex human society had slavery. [Slaves attempting to free themselves from chains]

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It turns out that slavery was a way for the state to demonstrate and increase its power.

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Slavery was like a violent form of theater.

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Defeated soldiers or criminals were led to kings in chains, allowing everyone to see

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the power of the king and the consequences of defying him. [Slave in chains beside a King]

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Want to appear important?

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Get a slave and exert some power.

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Boom.

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Instant ego boost.

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We can also think of slavery as a punishment and reward system.

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Slavery was used to punish a bunch of stuff, from treason to sexual deviancy to… just

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plain being homeless or in debt. [Homeless man in chains]

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Powerful dudes could also give slaves to supporters as rewards.

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Don’t know what to get that special someone? [Slave appears out of a gift box]

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Why not a slave?

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Slaves given as gifts became personal servants or concubines and were symbols of just how

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important and powerful their masters were.

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Throughout history, many slaves were prisoners of war, but some were also criminals.

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If there weren’t enough criminals around, it wasn’t too hard to drum some up.

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Need some more slaves to reward to your cronies?

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Just declare a small crime as punishable by slavery.

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Like…imagine if jaywalking was suddenly made punishable by enslavement. [Man jaywalks and office appears]

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Pretty soon, we’d all be slaves.

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Or we’d stop jaywalking.

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But…you get the point.

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Also, this technique had the added bonus of concentrating wealth in the hands of the military [Coins falling into a funnel beside a military man]

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elite.

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But relying on slavery was like holding TNT and hoping it doesn't blow off your hand. [Slave holding TNT]

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Most people recognized that slavery, if unchecked, had the potential to cause states to collapse.

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Like a snow fort in the spring.

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You can only concentrate so much wealth in the military elite.

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Or remove so many consumers from the economy. [Hand picks up consumers and throws them away]

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Or endure so many rebellions… before it all gets out of hand.

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