Something for you to read, Part 12

Plenty of interesting stuff on the old series of tubes this morning, but here are a few I think worthy of your attention:

(1) An intriguing and heart-rending article from the Financial Times (originally published in the spring. I believe but wish I could not believe the fact cited in the article that more humans are enslaved today than at any other time in human history.

(2) A brief polemic by the amazing George Packer, an anti-poetry at the Inauguration screed that, despite my support for poetry and greater public awareness of it, makes a lot of sense.

(3) A pretty excellent, lengthy piece in the NYT that ties the continuing economic collapse to the rotten ideologies of the current White House occupants in such a compelling way that even the last standing market conservative has to say, "yeah, you got us there."