t their possessions. Voluntary slavery would make everyone more secure, including both slaves and the free poor. The unemployed poor now face social exclusion. Many could rejoin the social mainstream by opting for slavery. Slaves to the very rich might well enjoy a sumptuous lifestyle beyond the imagination of those now trapped at the bottom of our liberal capitalist societies. Unfortunately the institution of slavery at this point in history has a bad image, largely because at the time of abolition the dominant form was the brutal plantation slavery of the Americas and the Caribbean. In ancient Greece and Rome, however, slavery was not always oppressive and brutalising. Slaves to rich and powerful men often themselves had a great deal of derivative wealth and power; some even had slaves of their own. Under slavery in the new millennium, many slaves would also share in the lifestyles and amenities of the rich and famous. They would eat exotic fare, sail about on luxury yachts, fly around in private jets, and share expensive vacations and recreations. Some would be treated as valued members of wealthy extended families. Others might come to exercise considerable degrees of delegated power. For the most part the new slaves would participate more fully, if indirectly, in our consumer society than would the free poor. The younger unemployed might opt for a period of slavery only, during which their owners could exploit their youth. Those who are thrown on the unemployed scrap heap in their late middle age could opt for life-long slavery and the security that would bring. The old might not be as hardy or desirable as the young, but they would bring the benefits of their experience, and additional benefits to both the slave-owner and society that would accrue from their status as property. Since slave-owners would own the bodies of their life-long slaves at and beyond the point of death they would be able to sell on the body parts for use in ...
