More on Slavery

Wat Tyler on Burning our Money blog has some background to the ludicrous idea of slavery reparations.

First off, let me state that the idea of putting a financial value on some things is actually impossible. It's commonplace nowadays to claim compensation for any and everything, but to me it's a moral madness. No money can "restore" the position before the crime, when death, torment and horror is involved, let alone the long-drawn out abomination of the slave trade and slavery itself.
The right response of the victims, is to treat the tormentor with utter contempt and to throw the offer of blood-money back in their faces.

However, since the question is raised, and we are engaging in a thought-experiment, we can assess the value of the income from the trade.
Which modern research has shown to be less than actually was believed.
Against that has to be set the cost of defending the sugar islands, if we are to speak of the net benefit to Britain. So that cost was higher than it would have been if the plantations had been freely established with free labour.
So the net benefit to Britain was not that great. It really amounted to scheming planters manipulating politicians to spend other people's money to protect their monopoly profits, rather than paying for protection themselves.
Still, let's assume it was a net benefit.
But against that is the benefit to Africa from Britain ruthlessly suppressing the trade on the high seas (probably in contravention of international law, but let that pass).
This cost is believed to have been higher than the cost of the benefit from the trade in the first place.
Plus the benefit from being colonised (all those railways and ports.) More money went in than came out, in many places.
So: can we stop this morally dubious talk of reparations for 200 year old crimes?

Details, including references, at:
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/

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