On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain, which began the expansion of the country beyond North America. The accusation that Spain had caused an explosion on the U.S. battleship “USS Maine” on February 15 of that year in Havana, resulting in 266 deaths, was the perfect pretext. At that time, the United States refused to investigate the causes of the tragedy.

Imperialist expansion and U.S. economic interests in the last Spanish possessions in the Caribbean brought the Spanish-American War to the coasts of Puerto Rico.

The United States took possession of Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898 after the so-called Spanish American War. Charles Herbert Allen became the first civilian governor of the island in 1900 and shortly thereafter produced the First Report of the Governor of Puerto Rico. More than any other concerns, this report dealt with agriculture, and sugar in particular. It noted that entrepreneurs could produce sugar on the island for $10 less per-ton than Java, $12 less per-ton less than Cuba, and $47 less per-ton than Louisiana and Texas.

White Gold

From a humble beginning as a sweet treat grown in gardens, sugar cane cultivation became an economic powerhouse, and the growing demand for sugar stimulated the colonization of the New World by European powers, brought slavery to the forefront, and fostered brutal revolutions and wars.

Yes, sugar! How could something so sweet bring such destruction. I guess it’s not as sweet as it looks. I guess it's poetic justice that diabetes was the eighth leading cause of death in the United States in 2021 based on the 103,294 death certificates in which diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of death. Before you think it is chastise, we must always ask what’s the cause of any form of slavery? What’s the underlying motivation?

Cheap Labor

This unfortunately is not an article about America’s chicanery and spuriousness but more of about how those acts of casualty are a microcosm in the hypocrisy of us all. We often virtue signal for or against things that we ourselves benefit from or intend too. We all want higher wages and more time off work, but we somehow suffer short term memory loss when shopping for goods and services. We demand cheaper prices at the register but are protesting hiring wages in the human resource departments.

We must take some responsibility for much of the higher cost and/or the human capital theft because after all this is a matter of economics and less morality. I guess we are not against slavery after all, are we? We want higher wages at McDonalds but a cheaper burger.

This is nothing new. Historically there has never been a dynasty that has risen to its heights without first using a form of cheap labor. Usually slavery. Follow the timeline. 1860s America abolished slavery. Its largest trading commodity became extremely expensive to produce. So, we exported slavery to Puerto Rico under the guise of freeing them from the “Imperialist” Spain in 1898.

Now fast forward to the 1970s, sugar is no longer our biggest trading commodity. But consumer goods most certainly are. The existence of a large population growth accompanied by the lack of contraception, created a large group of consumers. With the spread of federal minimum wages in the 1940s it is obvious that America had some planning to do.

US-China Trade Relationship

For thirty years following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, there was virtually no trade between the two countries; Washington had severed ties with the communist government in Beijing. In 1979, the United States and China normalized relations, prompting an explosion of trade over the next four decades from a few billion dollars’ worth to hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

China a communist country which controls their population wages without reproach. The US first started manufacturing in China in the early 1990s, when US companies began to outsource production to China. This move was driven by China’s low labor costs and other incentives, such as tax breaks and relaxed regulations.

Since the late 2010s and into the 2020s, China has been described as an emerging superpower or even an established one, like the United States, as China poses "the most significant challenge of any nation-state in the world to the United States. Again, a problem we all created.

Present Day Inflation

March 12, 2024, Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) is set to shut its pork packing plant in Perry, Iowa — culling about 1,200 jobs in the process — as the meat packer looks to cut costs amid a slump in the demand for its products. The plant closure was scheduled to close by the end of June.

And a week later Tyson released a report titled below.

So stop asking why illegal immigrants are coming freely over the boarder because you asked for them. Remember? Ok so maybe you didn’t ask for them but remember cheap labor is now and always in high demand as long as cheaper prices are necessary for consumers. Which is always.

AI and Embodied AI: The Future of Cheap Labor

In a scenario where General AI and Embodied AI possess the same level of intelligence as a human being, the landscape of automation and labor economy would undergo significant changes.

General AI, with human-level intelligence, could potentially automate not just repetitive tasks, but also complex tasks that require problem-solving and decision-making skills. This could span a wide range of activities, from strategic planning in businesses to complex creative tasks in arts and literature.

Embodied AI, on the other hand, could perform tasks requiring physical interaction with the environment as efficiently as humans. They could potentially perform any physical task a human can, from cooking a meal to performing a surgical operation.

Final Thoughts

We went from using animals to perform tasks for production to humans, to machines and all for the need of lower cost and less natural resource consumption. For us humans, we will likely see the same phenomenon: humanoid robots that are more energy efficient and capable of performing a variety of tasks better than we ever could. As time passes, the gap will likely increase and we will see the takeoff effect Ray Kurzweil told of when speaking of the technological singularity.

The question then becomes what role human beings will play in tomorrow’s economy if they are unable to manage the newest form of cheap labor. My guess is the same as yours.

Let me put it this way...

Women largely came into the workforce in the 70s and in a matter of 4 decades, the birth rate went from around 5 in the 1960s to around 2.4 in 2023. And why? The less we need each other the less we create each other. We all are selfish by nature and as a proud father of two, I can assure you there’s not a “u” in family time. The issue of cheap labor has outlived 500 years of our ancestors and for sure to out live you and most definitely your next president.

But this does bring about an opportunity - to have a rational unbiased assessment of our moral flexibility. We judge each other by the depths they would go for a profit or cheaper goods. But maybe we should ask ourselves. Since we all participate in a form of slavery is it time to retire the slavery conversation?

How much are you really against slavery? Put your money where your mouth is. Or do like doors…and shut the f&%k up.