[Originally published in November 2015]
“If we can face it, God can fix it.”
~ Bishop Alfred Owens
By Catherine Austin Fitts
In The Half Has Never Been Told, historian Edward Baptist attempts to unpack the nuts and bolts economics of American slavery and the economic trends that lead to and resulted from abolition.
Baptist argues that slavery was essential for building a Southern cotton machine that pooled enormous capital through the US textile industry and was critical to the success of America’s industrial economy. He also argues that slave labor was economically very productive. Using cotton pricing and production data and analysis of management practices, Baptist argues that picking quotas enforced with whippings and the threat of force systematically applied resulted in astonishing growth rates in picking productivity:
“A study of planter account books that record daily picking totals for individual enslaved people on labor camps across the South found a growth in daily picking totals of 2.1 percent per year,” Baptist writes. “The increase was even higher if one looks at the growth in the newer southwestern areas in 1860, where the efficiency of picking grew by 2.6 percent per year from 1811 to 1860, for a total productivity increase of 361 percent.”
Baptist contends that slave labor was significantly more productive than free labor:
“Many enslaved cotton pickers in the late 1850’s had peaked at well over 200 pounds per day…In the 1930s, after a half-century of massive scientific experimentation, all to make the cotton boll more pick-able, the great-grandchildren of the enslaved often picked only 100 to 120 pounds per day.”
At one point, Baptist describes the creation of large corporations used to build out cotton plantations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and the orders given to move thousands of slaves out from the Southeastern coastal areas to provide labor. It was stipulated that 70% were to be young men between the ages of 18-36. Right after reading this description, I was researching the European refugee situation and discovered that the statistics provided by the EU disclosed that 70% of the refugees coming to Europe were young men between the ages of 18-36. Apparently, some things do not change.
Baptist covers the financial fraud common with financing the slave trade. There was no system through which the financial system could perfect their collateral. When slave owners got into trouble, they would default on their debts while selling the slaves into new territories and keeping all of the sales proceeds. The City of London was badly burned by Southern banks financing the slave trade. One wonders whether England would have abolished the slave trade if a working collateral system had been in place.
Baptist also describes the efforts to create retail investments to finance the cotton commodities’ operations. In essence, retail investors hungry for income were eager to enjoy the income generated from the whipping machine — although the reality on the ground was not fully disclosed. It is a reminder of the speed at which private investors snapped up stock in private prison companies.
My favorite passage was a quote from Frederick Olmstead describing the diverse economies built by German immigrants as opposed to the centralized economies built by slaves. The German immigrants built much wealthier, more diverse and resilient economies. The problem was that it was not a centralized economy – a few people could not own and control it all. Again, some things do not change.
Throughout my life, I have dealt with a certain kind of person in America’s leadership. Essentially, they are slavers. They believe in the systematic application of violence to get a greater “harvest” each year. In fact, what I describe as the slow burn is a new form of an invisible, “high tech” whipping machine. If you want to understand this mentality, read The Half Has Never Been Told. It does a good job of describing the dark side of our culture – the part that believes in building personal wealth through force: whether mind control, assassination, genocide, depopulation, slavery or war.
America is a country of contradictions. On one hand, we believed in personal freedom and the values of the Scottish Enlightenment. On the other hand, our leadership has often found the practice of slavery in its many forms to be economically compelling. While technology made it attractive for Northern Industrialists to outwit Southern plantation owners by abolishing slavery and shifting to more subtle methods, the increased ability to now use digital technology to perfect human collateral systems should give one very deep pause.
Related Reading:
Some important questions and corrections to Baptist’s estimates of total slavery economy.
In 1860 there was no income tax, and the federal government received most of its revenue through various import tariffs paid by the South, which it used to support the industries in the North. Because the South did not have equal representation in Congress they got the short end of the stick. One could argue that the conflict was about the South maintain it’s sovereignty over the federal government. If the South won it would have control all of the warm water ports.
And just as you have been predicting, not only have people been swayed by the free education and health care supported by incredibly high taxes, now the Swedes are being microchipped. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-18/biohack-thousands-sweden-have-implanted-microchips-under-their-skin. Socialism is another form of subtle slavery and now these people might as well have their ID numbers in a tattoo on their arms. I don’t doubt IBM has a system for recording microchip data…
Adding this book to my reading list. Thanks, Catherine.
This one is on my reading list. I’m a bit ignorant of history because of my Amarykun Edgeycashun… Do you recommend any books for learning about the Scottish Enlightenment?
Quin:
I don’t have one good book on the SE but am looking. Will post if I find.
Catherine
America/US has the best PR machine money can buy. Up is down and down is up. Freedom is slavery. The whip is replaced by the credit card.
Great description!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…unless, of course, it itself is a psyop or LARP
It is beginning to feel like we – black, white, young, old, male, female – are all just entirely sick of the BS.
Would be good. Except so many people are being paid to pump out BS.
It is truly a jungle of conflicting motives and agendas out there.
Kanye West is a black rapper who is married to Kim Kardashian… lol (can’t make this s*** up), and she’s not terribly happy about him posting photos of himself with his MAGA hat.
Basically, it’s a big Red Pill and there’s been a huge reaction to it in media/pop/left culture. West’s got a very “well developed sense of self” (big big ego).
If he keeps it up… I believe he is in actual physical danger from deep state wolves that are trying to manage approved narratives.
Sounds to me like DOD intel has a reason to protect him. Particularly if they are going to use Trumps team to do the piratization.
I think the tech and ivy league endowments have buried the hatchet with the military team and they are building up to a lip smacking piratization after the election. So West fits right in – it also helps to keep the distraction alive. Although so would bringing harm to him – would be considered very entertaining.
Well, I don’t even know who Kanye West is. I posted an interview with Candace Owens this week. I guess I am going to have to go learn all about him!
When I’m tired… I always wish posts had “edit” functionality lol. Apologies for typos
“If we can face it, God can fix it.” One of my favorite things, I have heard you quote in interviews, Catherine.
Haven’t done a deep dive on it specifically… but how ironic to see how paid “whippersnappers” (Antifa, “resist”, etc…) are out creating violent opposition to freedom, in the marketplace of ideas.
A bit of topic… never been a fan of Kanye West… but it has been fascinating watching his remarks detonate the status quo around what is acceptable political thought for blacks in America.
Those that work directly on the meme viruses working in mainstream America most be really upset that Kanye and others are saying no to straight jackets of thought slavery.
It was also interesting for me to read in the book that the financial people in the Northeast, equivalent in some ways to today’s Wall Street, were making tremendous money off of financing the entire slave trade, and issuing the necessary financial instruments around this.
Constant, all-pervasive surveillance, facial recognition, 5G, plus all the mind control brings us closer to being, one supposes, perfected capital. But for whom and to collateralize what? The answer may be too hideous to speak of.
Yup. New high tech whipping machine plus collateral system.
You are most welcome!
Wow. Excellent review. Thank you!