Most poor people can't escape the cycle of minimum-wage jobs. So, they can run away ... straight from Arby's to McDonald's. A portion of the electric bills, rent, and medical bills they pay, go to the same people who own stock in the places where they have to work. All of the money they pay goes to the same class of people. You're taking a too-literal definition of slavery, and arguing that anything that doesn't conform precisely to this definition cannot possibly be considered slavery. Yeah, yeah, I know ... we all have "freedom."