Similarities between wage labor and slavery were noted as early as Cicero in Ancient Rome. I believe everyone is aware that getting beaten is bad. slaves didn’t have rights to protect them so it was up to the slave owner. American slavery has racism and hate ties with it so getting a slave owner that’s good would have been rare. Theoretically you could have a slave owner that basically trained their slaves like athletes. Ie good nutrition, hydration, rest. And instead of training for a sport they’d be working the plantation. In terms of economic power a slave and a wage worker that can only afford basic necessities are the same. Wether you’re given basic needs directly or given currency to exchange for the same needs. Most modern wage slaves don’t get beaten, mistreated, forced to work on unsafe conditions but there have been many riots/protests to get to where we are today. I’m not trying to diminish someone’s struggles but find similarities. 16 tons by Tennessee Ernie ford is a song about coal miners I forget exact details but basically the coal mine owners also owned the town stores. So they paid you for every 16 tons of coal, they might mess with the scales so that you have to get 20 tons for the scale to say it’s only 16. Then with the money they gave you, you’d spend it on groceries/rent. Now they didn’t pay you enough to cover the basic needs so you would be forced to acquire debt. Once you acquired enough debt they would “settle” the debt by having fun with your wife. Former slaves said there wasn’t too much difference.