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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday October 12 2017, @06:08PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Thursday October 12 2017, @06:08PM (#581256)

    That's not the plan at all. These people know full well that their fortunes and comforts depend on the work that everyone else does, and that work won't happen if we're all dead. They can only get rid of us all once they've replaced all those employees with robots, and we're still a ways away from that. So, in the absence of robots, they want the next-best thing, which is slaves. And you only get that if the society outside of that slavery is so bad that slavery is actually preferable because you get room and board. You still want that seething mass of not-enslaved people begging to be enslaved, because that way when one of your slaves dies you can immediately get another one. And you also want that seething mass of not-enslaved people with a cross-section of valuable skills so you don't have any kind of delays because you let your hairdresser die or something.

    Immigration only matters insofar as they want this on a global scale. That way, you don't get, say, a nation that isn't living like this getting all uppity and invading your country, where they immediately gain the support of that seething mass who would just love to get rid of their masters.

    The mistake a lot of people make is assuming that because they're white and middle class, they're on the inside of the castle, when in fact they're on the outside.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @03:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 22 2017, @03:43AM (#585859)

    No. A slave has to be fed and housed and given medical attention when he is physically unable to work.
    A slave is property.
    ...and slaves can (pro)create more slaves.

    An employee is an easily-replaced cog in the machine.
    His wages can be cut, benefits cut (if those even exist), and his job can be sent to another town|county|state|region|country|continent if that will improve profits for The Ownership Class.
    The air, water, soil, and people of the town in which the employee lives and works can be poisoned (by the employer, who lives elsewhere) via irresponsible production methods and externalized costs.

    Even serfs|peasants|peons|churls|vassals|bondsmen under Feudalism had Noblesse Oblige where the Lord had a duty to the people who were bonded to his land.

    Capitalism left that behind.

    people [...] assuming that because they're white and middle class, they're on the inside

    Yup.
    60 Percent Of USAians Spend More Than They Earn In Order To Get Essential Needs (2017; up from 55 percent in 2015) [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [commondreams.org]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]