Laws passed during the era of the New Deal prohibited the use of prison labor with the exception of state institutions. However, lobbying by corporations eventually allowed them to use prison labor by 1979, and by 1995 businesses won exemptions from minimum wage laws which permitted them to exploit prison labor for, according to Elizabeth S. Anderson, "mere pennies an hour." She adds that "many are forced to work in unsafe conditions without protective equipment, because workplace health and safety laws do not apply to prison workers."[39]

Context:

Trump is following. He’s trying to pretend otherwise but he’s following. And unlike all of Trump’s other bad hires or hires he gets tired of, he can’t just shitcan Musk. Musk is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He’s got a bigger megaphone. And he’s got his own brand. I’m pretty sure there will eventually be a really big and really ugly falling out between the two of them. But it will take a while to get there and the costs are potentially quite large for both of them.

Trump has sewn himself into a sack with Elon Musk, a few billion dollars, a cat and a snake, and had the sack tossed into the Tiber. That’s the story here. And it will go on for a while.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/20684763

For Musk free speech is code word for "things I agree with"

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/21429342

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23300120

Repost inspired by seeing a self-proclaimed communist commenter recently muse on how much better monarchy was than capitalism.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23272168