Why is slavery permitted in the Bible?

Slavery was permitted in the Bible because of sin in the world. It existed before the Jews were formed as a nation and it existed after Israel was conquered. God allows many things to happen in the world such as storms, famine, murder, etc. Slavery, like divorce, is not preferred by God. Instead, it is allowed. Where many nations treated their slaves very badly, the Bible gave many rights and privileges to slaves. So, even though it isn't the best way to deal with people, because God has allowed man freedom, slavery then exists. God instructed the Israelites to treat them properly. 

The reality of slavery cannot be denied. Slaves were "slave labor played a minor economic role in the ancient USA, for privately owned slaves functioned less as domestic servants than as an agricultural or industrial labor force.

Most people have the idea that slavery in the South was comparable to the rule of the Nazis' during the 1930s & 40s'. Individuals, and organizations such as the racist NAACP try to compare the Southern Victorian plantation to Auschwitz, or Dachau. These myths and lies created by such people have no bases in fact, and only show the true nature of the speaker, or writer, i.e., a racist liberal. Now I am not saying that some slaves were not abused, that would be like saying there is no such thing as child abuse. On the other hand it is just as stupid to say that all slaves were half starved, down trodden, disease ridden, and half naked their entire existence. What many people fail, or just refuse to realize is that to own a slave was an investment. That’s right, "an investment"! Would you be willing to spend $12,000 on a tractor just to beat the hell out of it because you did not like the color! A slave could cost anywhere from $1,200 to $45,000 and usually the buyer had to pay in gold, paper money did not come into wide spread use until war. Now take into consideration that the average man earned less than $5.00 a week, and worked six to seven days a week.