Comment by IAmBroom

Slavery is at least as old as recorded human history, and had nothing to do with racism in most cases (although it often involves xenophobia). The Torah and Old Testament give specific moral guidelines on how to acquire and keep slaves. Prisoners of war are often made into slaves (from earliest times through today's conflicts). You seem to be conflating "slavery" with "18th-century US slavery".

If slavery truly provided no economic advantages, it's hard to explain why countless human civilizations have engaged in it. It's wrong on every moral front, but riches were inarguably built upon its back.