What is Labor Trafficking: Part Six Poverty & Government Corruption

By Ashlie Bailey

In a world where the majority of the world's wealth stays in the hands of a handful of men, it should come as no surprise at all that the elite have been exploiting women and the poor since the beginning of time. It is one thing when a trafficker forces someone into slavery. It is an entirely different monster when a government or military forces someone into slavery and it still happens all of the time. To some, it may sound like a conspiracy theory but it is the truth.

We mainly think of this occurring in other countries but it can happen in the United States too. Since governments get their funds from taxpayers, that can mean that taxpayers have the ability to influence the government. Giving citizens some control over what goes on in government can be a good thing if the citizens have good intentions. But what happens when a particular candidate is funded by powerful and wealthy people who have an agenda? That agenda can make its way into government policies.

In the United States especially; candidates are funded by wealthy people who run corporations. In a way, because of this, the United States government itself has begun to function and look more and more like a corporation. For instance, most Republican candidates are in support of free trade. Could this be because they are funded by businessmen who use slave labor in their manufacturing? I think that the wealthy businessmen who fund candidates wouldn’t be very happy if candidates didn’t support policies that keep the corporations making money.

The truth is that businesses make more money if they can rely on slave labor. The demand for slave labor and the supply for it are high. When businesses use slave labor they may make more money but they are not only hurting the slaves; they are hurting America. They are promoting corruption and causing there to be fewer jobs available here. Most people know that retail stores in the United States sell slave made products yet they don’t seem to have very much of a problem with retailers who do business this way. Taxpayers need to demand that retailers sell fair trade products. This will lessen the demand for labor trafficking not only in the United States but it will lessen the demand for slave labor all over the world.

Citizens need to hold governments accountable and governments should hold businesses accountable. Where there is no accountability there is corruption. Corruption in government and corporations is what makes labor trafficking possible. If there were solid accountability than trafficking would occur far less often.