A nation sold into slavery

One of the books I’m reading at the moment is Chronicles of the Tudor Kings.

Henry VIII died leaving England virtually bankrupt.

In 1547 Edward Seymour, Lord Protector after the death of Henry, introduced the notorious Vagrancy Act which proposed to deal with the problem of long-term unemployment by capital punishment.

I’m not sure if this measure was actually enacted but the following measures were:

Any able-bodied person who was out of work for more than three days should be branded with a V and sold into slavery for two years.

Other offences by the same individual would lead to a life of slavery.

While present day Irish rulers (lords) haven’t (yet) introduced the death penalty for being unemployed they have certainly, by their corruption, incompetence and arrogance, sold the country and its people into decades of (debt) slavery.