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Originally posted by Genorogers:

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Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Talarico is just plain creepy to me.

I've heard him referred to as "Talafreako" so I'd say he is plenty creepy.

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Originally posted by TigerDore:
I am fine with having a conversation on reparations; a complete, open conversation. It would have to include every facet of slavery, and post slavery America, including the following:

What is a human life worth?

Can we place a value on human life? Whatever that figure is, times that by approximately 340,000 Union troops who died to free the slaves.

Add the emotional and economic toll of another approximately 275,000 men wounded in battle, some crippled and unable to work, or work in a full capacity, to provide for their families.

Economic cost:

The Union spent about $3.25 billion, with a B, in 1865 dollars, to free the slaves. That would be about $66 billion in 2026 dollars.

The South spent about the same about of money, $3.25 billion.

Total cash spent by the newly reunited USA: $6.5 billion, or $132 billion in 2026 dollars.

Blockade of trade routes over 4 years took a huge economic toll on both the North and the South.

Much of the war was fought in the South, and the destruction of farms, homes, livestock, infrastructure, towns and cities was huge. At least through the 1970s, one could still see the physical path of Sherman's March to the sea, which was brutal.



This does not take into consideration the immeasurable economic post-war cost of the following:


* The loss of the lives 640,000 men (including 280,000 Confederate soldiers) no longer able to contribute to the economy.

* Another 500,000 (both sides) wounded to varying degrees, many unable to work in a full capacity.

*Postwar "Reconstruction" was possibly as brutal as the war; Andrew Johnson came down hard on the South, and much of the money spent went to puppet governments and the infamous "carpetbaggers". So South really did not really begin to recover until well into the 20th Century.

Regarding the cost of lives and the economic cost to the South; one could say, well, the South did much of that to themselves, and that is partly true. But the fact is that almost 70% of the people in the South did not own slaves, but were thrown into war regardless, and paid a huge toll for it. And the reunited nation, as a whole, suffered, for this war and its aftermath.

The 40 acres and a mule- Okay, this program was stopped, abruptly, by a Democrat, Andrew Johnson.

All of the above was the price paid, in lives and billions upon billions of 1865 dollars, to free the slaves. It was paid willingly by the North, of its own volition, with no outside force, because of the Judeo-Christian moral values instilled in our Constitution. When including the lives lost by the North, the price paid is immeasurable.

Affirmative Action- I have no idea of the economic cost, or the economic benefit to black people over the last 50-60 years, but it must be in the trillions. The same with welfare programs that have paid out in disproportionate numbers to black people.


So let's have the discussion. But put the above on the scales of justice first, then see where we stand, and what is really owed.



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