On Wed, 1 Sep 1999, Bryan Moss wrote:
> Elizabeth Childs said:
>
> > Bryan, are you seriously advocating slavery here, or am I not getting a
> > joke?
>
> Yes, I'm seriously advocating slavery.
>
> As Phil Osborn said in his reply to Michaels reply to me, "if [a child] were
> to form a personal trust and sell shares in himself, then he would have a
> vested interest in maintaining the value of the shares, as these would be
> his ticket to acquire further investment for going to college, starting a
> business, etc." I take this further and call it "slavery" simply because
> when the child most needs investment it is not at an age to consent. Now
> it's true that under such a scheme I could buy a child and have him work my
> sugar plantation for zero wage but it is also true that I could train the
> child to be a lawyer and make huge profits with minimum investment.
It's really too bad this isn't satire - it would be the greatest thing since _A Modest Proposal_.
-matt