"You might be an economist if you refuse to sell your children because they might be worth more later."

Zing! How could miss that one? It was the best quote!

Here's an interesting tidbit, Adam smith actualy opposed slavery because he thought that free laborors would both work harder and endure greater hardships than would slaves. As he expressed in his first volume of the wealth of nations. Though for some reason few writings on the matter of this acknowledge the latter aspect, presumibly from fear that people would realize that wage slavery is actualy worse than real slavery. Reminds me of a Yes Man' project in their movie when impersonating the WTO.

 Umm, I see what you're getting at but wage slavery isn't "worse" than "real" slavery. 

your just not looking at it from an economists perspective. Let me show you and explain.

"First, in almost every part of Great Britain there is a distinction, even in the lowest species of labor, between summer and winter wages. Summer wages are always highest. But on account of the extraordinary expense of fuel, the maintenance of a family is most expensive in winter. Wages, therefore, being highest when this expense is lowest, it seems evident that they are not regulated by what is necessary for this expense; but by the quantity and supposed value of the work. A labourer, it may be said indeed, ought to save part of his summer wages in order to defray his winter expense; and that through the whole year they do not exceed what is necessary to maintain his family through the whole year. A slave, however, or one absolutely dependent on us for immediate subsistence, would not be treated in this manner. His daily subsistence would be proportioned to his daily necessities. "

Smith is describing a situation of seasonality whereby a fluctuation in the need for employment is being exploited by employers in the winter months to exploit those whom did not save or did not have the means to save during the times of lower need for employment. His example is that slaves would not tolerate this. There are quite a few modern examples similar to this, notably like third world countries where the companies move in to exploit resources and/or low wage labor and leave once the resources have become over-exploited (ie depleted), market changes occur and/or changes in government or economic policy prompt the company to flee. The result is starving people.

Keep in mind if you compare historic slavery to modern day life you will obviously think the slavery to be worse. Still the same if you look at the worst most inhuman arrangements like the forced labor of the holocaust, gulags, Chinese imprisonment factories or other political imprisonment/forced labor arrangements. However, in countries where it is simply a market arrangement in the classical sense which slavery has more commonly occurred, if you were to look at  it in context of the economy in which it exists, you will likely find that Smith's analysis is relatively accurate.

Are the two necessarily discrete? What of the Chinese folks who are in Apple's iPod compounds, Brazilian goldminers? They may receive a nominal wage, but the notion that they have any authentic chance to escape is a canard. There is a spectrum of coercion;  the threat of being shot dead if one makes a break for it is but one expression of it. Any situation which effectively eliminates volition creates a condition of enslavement, I'd say.

Anent Friedman returning calls collect, I find nothing objectionable in that: the reporters are helping to produce a commodity. Folks should feel obligated to pay for the privilege of talking to a reporter?

I think you make a good point, it would be difficult to say that smith was examining the lives or conditions of the workers close enough to notice this as with many of his contemporarys. I think this is what prompted Marx to write capital.

I personaly think that the increasing use of force by corperations in this way is a part of a move to neo-feudal systems where governments are beginning to alow the use of force by corperations more often if it is in their interests.