I just watched some history videos and looked into company towns. Company towns are a corporate owned land that supplies all basic needs to its employees, but the catch is they charge just enough for all those basic needs so all money paid out to employees always comes back to the company. The workers are never able to save and are stuck working for the rest of their days. Tell me if these things sounds familiar.
Company towns had their own food stores, they were the sole provider and banned other way to get food. Almost all food in the US is supplied by 3 companies. In many states its illegal to have trees that produce fruit and there are miles of red tape for having your own garden, much less selling the products from that garden. AND that is all if you are lucky enough to own land with dirt or space!
Company towns sold employees their tools and made them pay them off in instalments. They had every loophole in the book to take those tools back anytime. Sound familiar? Truckers trying to own their own trucks, gig jobs where you need to provide your own vehicles, any company that makes you buy their outfit.
Company towns provided housing for rent. Employees could never own these homes they were the companies. Blackrock owns 1 in 7 homes and only rents…