Tied to the land

Feudal serfs were tied to the land. It was owned by their masters -as where they. While conditions varied from place to place and at different times, that was pretty much the way it was.
Good thing those days are over, right? We own our land now -unless we have a mortgage. Then the bank really owns it. All you have to do is to pay on it for half a lifetime and it’s all yours.

Except it isn’t, as you’d better not fall too far behind on your taxes. Then your Feudal Overload, I mean the state, will take it away from you.

It’s not that bad, right? Serfs could not leave the land and we can. We can sell it and move on. That is, unless we are underwater on the mortgage. Then we can’t sell at all. Then all we can do is sneak away in the dead of night.

In some ways, serfs had it better. They worked a lot less than we did. Certain times of the year they really did work hard, but that was seasonal, planting and harvesting. The Feudal calendar was loaded with religious holidays that gave the peasants days off. They could only work when it was light out. Think about that you night shift workers. They didn’t take their work home with them.

Their lords had responsibilities to the serfs. At bare minimum, they provided protection. Some provided everything from food for the workers to health care.

What does you bank provide you? Nothing. Some of those old responsibilities are taken up by the state, even though for most people, they pay more to the bank than to the state. Come to think of it, right now it seem a pretty thin wall between the banks and government. Bankers are in high positions in government and government has guaranteed bank profits.

So I’ve got to ask myself: why did the Feudal serf system die out? Was it because our current wage slave system is more beneficial to the overlords?

-Sixbears