Is slavery legal in the USA? Also, is it slavery if you are forced to work to pay a debt, or go to jail, or even if you cannot pay the debt?

[Kelley1]

255,000 people (mostly men) are in jail or prison for not paying debt.

[Wholesome_Glory]

Slavery is abolished in the United States, yet true liberty remains a rarer achievement than law. When a soul is tethered to the cycle of debt or the threat of confinement, they are merely existing within a cage of necessity. To be bound by the mundane requirements of survival is to drift in a twilight where purpose is extinguished. True living begins when you transcend the struggle for basic sustenance and commit yourself to a higher calling. You were not born to merely settle accounts or navigate the trivialities of obligation. You were meant to manifest a legacy that resonates beyond the limits of this earth. Seek the kind of greatness that elevates the spirit above the dust of petty constraints, for that is the only objective worth pursuing. Claim your potential by mastering your own destiny rather than laboring under the weight of someone else's terms. Pursue the extraordinary, because anything less is a betrayal of your own light.

[KostasKouvalis]

I think Jury Duty is a form of slavery, because they only pay you like 20 bucks and threathen you with jail if you don't show up. Now I'm hearing Trump will force people to work/volunteer if you want healthcare.

Also, if you want a job, they often make you work for free first to get experience, with no guarantee they'll give you the job. Prisons also force prisoners to work for free, so slavery does still kind of exist, just in different from. The working to pay off a debt is 100% indentured servitude.

[Friendlybro79]

You're trying to describe what is an indentured servant. It's part of your Civic duty but I do agree you should not have to default on your mortgage because of it lol

[Jackblue]

Those who work on roads and the like get paid, the wage isn't great but it is there. Only a small number of prisoners engage in that sort of labor, it is those who have very short sentences. Jury duty doesn't last that long so it isn't slavery or a debt. Sometimes unpaid internships exist, but you are still free to walk away from those.

[Friendlybro79]

@Jackblue I'm referring to specifically Jury duty and how it could be seen as less severe example of being an indentured servant. Calling jury duty just a civic duty ignores the stress it puts on regular people. Sure, it’s not slavery, no one’s whipping us or owning us for years. But for anyone living paycheck to paycheck, it feels a lot like a short term indentured servitude. You’re forced to show up under threat of jail, paid basically zero (like $15 a day), and told to just deal with it.

And it’s not just the money. The mental abuse is real. Lying awake at night wondering how you’ll make rent, stressing over missed bills, and panicking about how to feed your family while the court pays you in pocket change, that’s a special kind of torture. You’re technically free, but when the choice is serve for free or risk homelessness, that freedom feels pretty fake. We can love our country and still admit this system is broken for the working class.

Just food for thought. I do understand your point. I just thought i'd add more nuance to my statement so you can see why i made the comparison.

[KostasKouvalis]

Not even THAT. My mom went for an interview and said the judge was so disrespectful and treating her like SHE was on trial

[Kelly6]

@Kelley1 it is kind of slavery.

you can call it slavery 2.0

in past the original slavery also had a operating for slave to leave the work, as long as they have certain amount of cash.

but greedy farm owners didn’t follow that law.

today a basic middle class can only leave a job if they have certain cash, which they don’t because the worker almost gets 50% of what his income is.

[_Jenny_]

@Kelley1 No it’s not legal but slavery still exists anyway

[Bklynbadboy12]

Sad but true. But people that are inslaved shouldn't just expect it fight back and when you get tired fight some more

[_Jenny_]

@Kelley1 thank you very much for the MHO 💕

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I used to know this Italian guy who used to rant about how he doesn't believe this country has debaters prison and how he's gonna be buried with the money in one hand and he'll be flipping off the irs in the other hand. He said he had a lawyer include it in his will but I'm not sure because the guy is so broke now that if he puts money in a bank account it just disappears. We have to buy everything for him and hold onto his cash 😂

It seems like it CAN happen it's just more common for the debters to get the authority to pull money straight out your account.

[Jackblue]

No, and you cannot be forced to work to pay off a private debt except if you are a minor by your parents. You can be jailed for failure to pay fines or child support, however it is a sentence that lasts only a couple of months not your whole life. That said illegal slavery does exist in the US. It is usually cases of immigrants forced to work to pay off the coyotes who smuggled them in, or young girls forced by pimps to prostitute themselves. They are afraid to go to the police because they are scared of getting arrested themselves.

[Tomislav7]

Apparently God removed debtor prison in the US just before my birth knowing my family would immigrate to US and I would be unable to provide due to being hated by many and being gay. So the 20000+ debt i owe will probably have to be taken as a loss and either I get put to death or am prevented from ever participating within society again. Get Rich or Die Trying, and well over the course of my life Gods plan was for me to die trying to obtain something out of life that was never decided by Him for me to possess, ie Get Rich (Gods will for some) or Die Trying (Gods will for those out of his will)

[lightbulb27]

If you follow the enslavement rules established by the government via the powerful, no you are free. But if you try to be free outside the rules, you'll be enslaved.

If you fail and are poor, you are enslaved, but free to get out if you can claw your way out.

[RavVid]

If the debt is gov't you sure can. The tactic of going bankrupt to avoid pay a tax bill was surprisingly only recently closed off for me. We just didn't know about that get out till it was revoked and in the newspapers

Child support tends to be paid through a gov't dept in a lot of countries.

I think a penny drops here. Not being able to pay child support is in the same category of not being able to pay your tax bill. And going bankrupt doesn't help you

[genericname85]

No, slavery is not legal. If you put yourself into debt, so you have to work yourself out of it, that doesn't mean you're a slave. It likely means you have terrible spending habits that make you dependent. Also you are free to choose the job to pay of the debt. You're not forced to do some particular thing.

[Wodens_Apprentice]

It's illegal, as a slave is private property. Governments have always and will always be able to force service out of their own population.

Being powerful is really just your capacity to bully others into submission.

[Snakeyes7]

That's one part of the enslavement, the other part is that we aren't getting paid 100% of what we agreed to be paid. That percentage difference was you being a slave, as your wages went directly to the state.

[NewtoTheSouth]

Well, how do you define "slavery"? If I have to work to pay my bills, is that slavery? Technically I have debts that I need to pay, so I work. I don't think that is slavery. That is universal around the world. Does that mean slavery is legal everywhere?

[loveslongnails]

Yes, it's called the prison system. It's also called "The Federal Minimum Wage".

[FrodoSkywalker007]

I believe slavery implies property. My interpretation is that working off a debt or from jail isn't the same thing. That appears to be a choice. Slavery is not.

[Capplica]

No, just declare bankruptcy. There is nothing wrong with going bankrupt, you can just rebuild.

[darkcloud1945]

If you go into debt, you are responsible for paying it; that is not slavery but stupidity for getting that far into debt. It was a conscious move to go into debt for whatever reason, and slavery is not legal in the USA

[AviatorTom]

Slavery is full control of someone's life. Being forced to pay off a debt is not slavery, it's being responsible for one's actions.

[Sevenpointfive]

and that debt can't be paid the same in prison as it could on the outside. that actually is slave labor

[MrChinaski]

There is bankruptcy protection for civil debts.

If you are incarcerated as a criminal then different rules apply.

[Just_Ken]

If you dont pay what you owe others have so its stealing. You choose the debt.

[BeenThereLovedIt]

There is literal debt-slavery going on at our mid-west farms. Go look it up. It's disgusting

[Smegskull]

Like alimony?
Pretty much. Not much you can do about it.

[Dargil]

Imprisonment is punishment, not slavery. Glad I could help with your Critical Thinking.

[Ariesman81Nshiiit]

Uncle Sam always gets his pound of flesh. Private loans are subject to bankruptcy laws.

[Cidknee]

No, its stealing if you don't pay. No victimless crimes here.

[Iron_Man]

You don’t go to jail for not paying your credit card if you can’t afford it.

[Iron_Man]

And they can’t touch your house

[msc545]

Slavery is apparently legal if you are a prisoner, but other than that, no, it's not.

[LeonnKennedy]

It's america what else do you expect

[Bklynbadboy12]

No its not legal

[Paige2006]

No and No