Out of the Crooked Timber of Humanity, no Straight Thing was ever Formed

this my comment at John Quiggin's Blog

What often disturbs me is that ideologues always assume that the core reason for the plight of humans or some group of humans is the application of the wrong political philosophy.

My daughter asked me last night to explain the difference between “left” and “right” in terms of economic policy.

Here was my answer – understand that she grew up on a SEA rice farm so my answer was based on her world view of food being central to everything. How quaint eh!

Imagine you are out walking one day and after a long hike you discover a huge valley filled with mangoes and bananas and other fruit as well as wild geese and pigs and everything you could imagine.

Nobody has ever seen the valley before. You are the first.

You think “I could take food to the market and sell it” – which is what you do.

The next day you take a big pack and go back to the valley, making sure nobody follows you because somehow you know what you have discovered is enormous wealth.

You fill your pack with delicious mangoes and return and go to the local market and sell your mangoes and make a lot of money because everyone can see they are really great mangoes.

You do this for several weeks before your sister asks you if she can sell some food at the market too – and you agree to let her in for 50% of what she can carry and sell (she is your sister after all).

So next day the two of you head back to the valley with you packs….

After a few months you have a number of family members all going to the valley with packs and soon with a cart and then with a horse and cart to fetch food to sell.

That is free market economics.

One day, the local head man approaches you and says “you have been selling a lot of food – you have to give me 50% of everything you make so i can help the poor families of the village.”

So now you have to give the head man half of everything you make and everyone has to wear a cut in income – but you have more horses now and all of the family and some distant cousins are all involved so it’s not so bad – you can live with it.

The head man distributes much of what he takes from you among the poor families of the village and his popularity grows.

So soon he is being approached by more people to get help for this and that – and soon he is back to you for a bigger cut of what you make from selling your fruit and meat.

This my dear daughter is the “left”.

Your clever cousin has watched your problems with the local head man and he decides that if he can get the other people from the market to vote for him to be the head man then he can give less money away and you can pay less.

He competes in the next village head-man election and wins – now you are paying less to the head man because he will only keep his job if he can get the people at the market to all vote for him.

That my dear daughter is the “right”.

At this point my daughter asked “what happens when all the food in the valley is gone?”

To which i responded:

That my dear daughter is the exact plight of the world at this moment.

Both sides – the left and the right - claim that the prosperity of the village flows from their superior management of the local economy.

The fact is that both sides are leeching and the only real source of wealth for all of the village is what the local environment can produce.

She asked me "why couldn’t people understand economics if it was so simple to explain?"

To which i replied:

My dear daughter – both head men truly believe that they are important and the people they talk to every day are convinced by their fine clothes and fine words that they are speaking truth.

see my short story: the Land of Skinny People

p

Silly little Julia

(one big breath)

Silly little Julia, peculiar is Julia
she thought that she could be a star
prime mover and Prime Minister
but stabbing and her grabbing
power hasn't seen a happy hour
plunging popularity mistakes almost hilarity
stupidity and perfidy and everyone can plainly see
her enemy is is you and me
when it should be the big money


(one big breath)

so Labor it will labour on
recoup the public favour gone
the flavour of the hour was
illegal people boating from
the shit our stupid leaders brought
us Howard slurping Bush's ass as
everywhere it all collapses
stupid little minded people
chasing what they think is power
blind to what is really coming
bumming out the population
never get my adulation

(breath normal again)

lead us over a cliff you fools

rhythm for stanzas: "No! i'm a better manager, No! i'm a better manager, No! i'm a better manager ..... ad infinitum just as it is between Australian politicians"


if you liked this you might also like 'cause our brand name is "Australia"

Mining is making us lazy

some poet (AlanR) posted on http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2011/08/mining-is-making-us-lazy/

The graph suggests we’re up the creek,
as all the minerals start to peak.


to which i reply:


It's not the peaking mining
but peaking Peking signing
if China slows nobody grows
but maybe i'm just whining


i contend the real growth
is immigrants you see
the money from the minerals
is just some cream to me


to me or rather some fat cat
who sells our mineral wealth
and takes his a cut of riches
by law and maybe stealth


the falling productivity?
well gee i guess we must
bring harder workers from afar
it's that or we go bust

homo travelycus

we middle classes like to fly
our iPods close at hand
with Lonely Planet guiding us
the moment that we land

homo travelycus
of travel we're desirous
not only are we everywhere
we're like a ****ing virus

we flood the world with dollar bills
with roubles and with francs
Mc Donalds follows close behind
and so do all the yanks

homo travelycus
there is no species like us
the natives smile and be polite
but really want to strike us

we travel here we travel there
we click and post our pics
and all the while the locals, well
they think we're stupid hicks

homo travelycus
will part with a good buy kiss
and blog "the culture is so quaint
- they really really like us"

when future diggers find our bones
down deep deep in the ground
they'll scatch their heads and ponder
just what it is they found

"homo travelycus
prolific hungry Lycos
extinction caught them by suprise
but they were never like us"

*Lycos = Wolf

when the future comes a knockin'

we build a home to raise our kids
because that's what we do
but it'll be an empty shell
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today is what we dream of
will tomorrow be no more

the gold and silver that we hord
because we fear what comes
we'll give away for a loaf of bread
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today is worth a fortune
will tomorrow make us poor

the faith we have in government
well it is fading fast
we'll see them as the enemy
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
what today we all believe in
will be what we all abhor

we walk the streets today in peace
we walk with little fear
but steets will be like battle grounds
when the future comes a knockin'

when the future comes a knockin'
when tomorrow's at our door
where today we greet our neighbour
will be where we're all at war

i write these words in disbelief
that i have come to this
that i look out with fear and grief
'cause i hear the future knockin'

'cause the future is a knockin'
and tomorrow's at our door
if we can not save ourselves from us
what worth is all our lore?


if you liked this you might also like "for our sons and daughters too"

for our sons and daughters too

when all of what we are today
is dim dim distant past
a racial memory mostly myth
known to the shaman caste

i wonder what they'll think of us
when sitting by the fire
and hearing of the things we did
like gods but so much higher

"the great great gods of long ago
they walked upon the moon
they drank the very blood of earth
from death they were immune"

"they did not walk upon the ground
but through the air they flew
and everything there is to know
the ancient gods they knew"

i guess the stories that they tell
the children will devour
they'll dream that they were just like us
and had enormous power

i doubt they could imagine though
the real truth to tell
of how we raped their planet
and we made our lives a hell

they'll never know the polar bear
the tiger or the crane
and countless other creatures
to which we were the bane

they'll also never know the stars
because we stole their chance
because we'd rather party on
and live upon advance

oh what a sad sad species
we "gods" of planet earth
we stupid kings of overshoot
what really are we worth?

just look around at what you see
and ask yourself "where now?"
and if you have an answer
it better tell you how

'cause i can't see a future
that is anything but grim
and even bare survival chances
often seem so slim

i hope that future stories
are told around the fire
that kids enjoy just living
and old folk just retire

i hope we're not the last of us
i really really do
i hope that there's a future
for our sons and daughters too

bad news about our oceans, polar bears are doomed, Polar bears feel the heat as frozen habitat shrinks


more on our future: "Party on Dudes!"




if you are looking for my Druid's Story see "The Keepers"

Fukushima baby

Fukushima baby
glowing in the night
please baby don't say maybe
'cause i love that you're so bright

and if our kids are mutants
well gee maybe that's great
six fingers or two heads might be
a good survival trait

i think that living in Japan
where radiation reigns
is better than to go and live
amidst financial pains

because i tell you baby
as bad is it might be
the rest of this poor planet soon
will see catastrophe

as every place that humans live
by sucking gas and oil
errupts in war and famine as
our planet we despoil

my guess is that they'll never think
to look towards Japan
they'll focus on the last of oil
in Iraq and Iran

and so it will continue 'til
we see the mushroom clouds
then everywhere will be the same
we'll all be wearing shrouds

so let me love you baby and
let's make Ōkuma home
we'll live with all the röntgens
and we never more shall roam

Bernanke Limerick and Rhyme

redacted from comments at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/mers-case-filed-with-supreme-court.html




There once was a world in deep shit
with us in the middle of it
as we sank in the poo
there was Ben Bernank too
but he was quite happy with it





Ben Bernanke
Lost his hankie
how does he blow his nose?
with dollar bills
he prints at will
that's how our predicament grows

Ode to Paul Krugman

this story is about a bloke
who thought he'd save us all
an economic genius
with vision and with gall

he set about to craft a plan
'twas Keynesian and good
we'd all be given ray-guns
and a power-pack and hood

then all of us could roam the land
our faces hid from view
we'd zap each other's businesses
and zap the houses too

we'd zap the cars and aeroplanes,
the buildings short and tall
in fact when we had finished
we'd have found and zapped it all

and then when everything was dust
we'd start again from scratch
we'd build the world all over
a new one without match

and can you just imagine
how big the GDP?
the growth would be enormous
and such prosperity!

the folks in dear old London
well they just could not wait
they've started off already
and i think wow that's great

we really don't need ray-guns
we don't need much at all
so let's all go break windows
(the man? his name was Paul)

'cause our brand name is "Australia"

if you need a tune try this

we've kangaroos and wallabies and emus too in plenty

but they don't greet your flight to Sydney when you make your entry

and why you come to be with us is not for pets i tell ya

the simple reason is because our brand name is "Australia"

chorus:

    our brand name is Australia mate we're proud of that i tell ya
    and if you had an image like ours it would never fail ya
    and everybody everywhere wants everything we've got
    we're flamin' great i tell ya mate in fact we're bloody hot!

refrain:

    prawns on the barbie and sauce on ya pie
    prawns on the barbie and sauce on ya pie

our coastline is a million miles of paradise and beaches

and everywhere the girls in skimpy cossies bare their peaches

but it's not girls i tell ya mate or beer kegs in the trailer

the reason that we're famous is our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

we've immigrants from everywhere who've brought their ways of cooking

and any place that's great to eat at never needs a booking

and every stupid foreign critic soon becomes a failure

and that's because i tell ya mate our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are just two of our treasures
and every where you go to visit showers you with pleasures
but you will have to check it out 'cause we're not gonna mail ya
but that's OK, because of course our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

while all the world is suffering with falling housing prices

and everywhere the people fear political devices

right here within the Lucky Country nothing's gonna fail ya

and that's because as we all know our brand name is "Australia"

(chorus and refrain)

if you liked this you might also like "The Great Australian Poem"

The Great Australian Poem

'twas in a pub on Oxford Street
one torrid summer night
a gathering of poets ended
in a fearful fight

as eloquent and timbered voices
lilted out their verse
a drunken long-haired patron stood
and threw curse after curse

our learned poets persevered
pretending not to hear
and all the while the drunken lout
did curse and swill his beer

"you call your rubbish poetry
you pissy pointless slime
your stupid wanky poems, well
they do not even rhyme"

then as the reading faltered
(and the poets "piqued their ire")
a member of the audience
stood up and did inquire:

"so if you think their verse is bad
why don't you just get out?
We really don't enjoy the way
you curse and sneer and shout"

"You're just a drunken so-and-so
and these are learned folk
so please oh please get up and go
you loud and boring soak"

"Inebriated? i'll be damned!"
the drunkard waved his glass
"i'll challenge all you brainless yobs
i'll teach you all some class"

the poets grinned behind their hands
and snickered to the crowd
they knew full well this no-name fool
would fail if just allowed

the dais was vacated then
the poets stood near-by
the boozer ordered "fill 'er up
'cause speakin' makes me dry"

he teetered as he passed the bar
to grab his cold VB
and then he stood before the group
and dusted off his knee

and so it was he started
with poems quite well known
by great Australian poets that
we love and call our own

but he had quite a talent
for speaking Aussie verse
his words were crisp his vowels thick
his humour quite perverse

and do you know those poets there
were taken by surprise?
they'd never guessed such eloquence
from one you might despise

and as he finished off each poem
they commented and cheered
they talked of who the author was
and why he was revered

they had some pride in history
and more in what they knew
until the final poem left them
all in quite a stew

they'd never heard it - not one word
they all of them were stumped
the boozer spoke the final line
and then his chest he thumped

"so all you cleva fellahs
never heard that one before?"
and then he finished off his beer
and headed for the door

he left them there all arguing
each claiming that they knew
and soon it came to fighting
as their agitation grew

the conflict soon became too much
- the bouncers pushed them out
then out there on the footpath
one erupted with a shout:

"i say it's Henry Lawson!
unpublished but his best!"
another poet yelled "not so!"
and punched him in the chest

"it's Paterson i tell you!"
he raised a hairy fist
a smaller poet intervened
and grabbed him by the wrist

and as he screamed "it's Ogilvie!"
and clawed his larger foe
a crowd had gathered in the street
who stood and watched the show

and standing there among them with
a smile from ear to ear
unpublished and unknown at all
a Poet without peer

he'd saved a great tradition
passed down from days of old
The Great Australian Poem now
has finally been told

if you liked this you might also like "silly little Julia"


(what IS the Greatest Australian Poem? - check here Yahoo Answers)

feel free to comment - i'll not take offence

p

i surely do love silver

i surely do love silver
i surely do love gold
they'll be as they are trusted now
and since the days of old

they way they feel good in your hand
they way they gleam and shine
there's nothing quite so lovely
there's nothing that's so fine

and trust, that's something few have felt
in printed paper bills,
is what you can't help feeling when
your secret stash gold fills

when all is falling 'round our ears
and markets crash and burn
it's saftey that you cherish most
it's not a "sound return"

and so i'll love my metals
so precious and so fine
i'll hold them 'til i need them
in the coming long decline

'cause these are the true money
that always hold their worth
and if they are a "relic"
well, then so to is the earth


if you liked this you might also like "Flations"

Things are different here

For Mish Shedlock (here and here and here  and here and others)


when things turn to shit in Australia
the Government always steps in
the easiest thing and always the first
is to let lots more migrants come in

you'll know when this starts to happen
'cause there'll be claims "we don't have the skills"
then quota's go up and criteria down
and the media mob are all shills

and on top of that repeating pattern
will be First Home Grants tax free and huge
and all sellers will then up their prices
'cause they know that the buyer's a stooge

if you look out your window in Sydney
no "house for sale" signs will you see
'cause people hold on to illusions
and forever that's likely to be

so Mish though i note that you're clever
and live in a land full of woe
i do doubt the future you posit
(and now i must work so i'll go)



see also - in order of publication - ie oldest first:

      Waging  a Property Price War - an interesting counter to Mish's arguments which he takes largely from Steve Keen
      Updated Credit Accelerators - as good an entry point into Steve Keen's work as any

      Keen's House Price Hit Won't Happen - another attack on Steve Keen's projection

      The US vs Australian Bubble - excellent analysis by macrobusiness.com.au - very quickly becoming the premier Australian financial blog

      Melbourne housing supply goes ballistic - another  macrobusiness.com.au post

      Buyers exit market amid housing squeeze - from the ABC

      Houses looking Good - Macrobusiness.com.au

      Move Up Buyer Fenzy! - ditto

      New home sales rise from the floor - again

      R P Data report

      Melbourne bubble bursts

      more bear, more bull and more bear

      SMH chips in with a bear headline

      SMH: New home sales buoyed by rate cut

      ABC: Construction on shaky ground as slump persists

      MB: HIA says house sales up, unit sales down

      MB: Approvals bounce in number, fall in value

      ABC: Home building approvals soar

      MB: Melbourne rental vacancies skyrocket

      Business Spectator: Housing Bubble Denier Trouble, House price slump unlikely: Hirst

      These two on the same day from same data:

            MB: House prices resume falls

            SMH: House prices may have hit bottom

      Steve Keen surfaces after a long break: House Prices outlook for 2012

      SMH: Record slump in house prices in 2011

      MB: (all on same day)

            ABS: House prices continue to fall

            Hope springs eternal in NAB housing survey

            New home sales slump again

            Kochie and Louis

      SMH: A property crash? Don't bet on it

      MB:
            Comparing the big three house price indexes

            Building disapprovals

      MB: REIWA’s desperate plea to boomers

      MB: Housing stock on market falls
   
      MB: Two speed Rents

      MB: Welcome back Kohler

      MB: A housing bull slows up

      MB: Auction clearance rates

      MB: Home sales rout

      MB: RP Data

      MB: Australian vs Canadian Property

      Mish Shedlock spoofing again: Bloodbath coming up and again Recession hits Aus

      Business Speculator: Housing boom returns but...

      MB: First home buyers retreat...

      MB: House prices rise in Feb...

This article gives you an idea of how i see it: from the immigrants side


      "Our brand name is Australia" a poem written at the same time and with reference to Aussie home prices

note also that my poem is just a poem - my opinion is not that of an economist but rather is representing a common meme in Australia - right or wrong


p

London Bridge is Falling Down ( tPoP remix)

        the S&P is falling down
                   falling down
                   falling down
        the S&P is falling down
                Let's all panic

the EU's lies have been exposed
                   been exposed
                   been exposed
the EU's lies have been exposed
              Let's burn London

    the war on terror is a sham
                      is a sham
                      is a sham
    the war on terror is a sham
           Let's shoot children

the Fed Reserve is full of shit
                   full of shit
                   full of shit
the Fed Reserve is full of shit
              Let's buy Bullion

  the end of oil is coming soon
                    coming soon
                    coming soon

  the end of oil is coming soon

         that's our nightmare

The Market is a Whore

(for Steen Jakobsen)


It is a brave economist
who jumps down from a fence
and stands his ground no matter what
the grip of the suspense

the world is like a fickle girl
we're neurons in her head
and when they all say "go that way"
she'll quickly change her bed

and if you're holding flowers
or dressed to cut a dash
you'll watch your sweetie walk away
and she'll take all your cash

"she'll come back soon i tell you
it's me she wants for sure"
and there you'll wait forever mate
'cause the market is a whore

if you liked this you might like 'cause our brand name is "Australia"

The Ghost of Osama bin Laden

when you need so much oil
the world you will spoil
in your quest for black gold that's been hiding

under Muslims it seems
lies the goal of men's dreams
so no protests will we be abiding

from the countries we rape
there can be no escape
so we'll kill and our hearts we will harden

and we'll blame someone there
who it is we don't care
just as long as his name is Bin Laden



came the fall of two towers
and amidst all the showers
of debris and death and of sadness

cried a voice in our ears
that fed on our tears
and drove the whole country to madness

"we will run him to ground
and we know he'll be found
wherever we claim we can find him

there's a price on his head
we'll not rest 'til he's dead
and our wrath and our justice will bind him"



but the years went on by
and Bin Laden did fly
from the focus of those who would break him

'til one day he was found
in a foreign compound
and the SEALs were sent in there to take him

so he met with his death
and he drew his last breath
in a fight that he had no more heart in

he was shot in the head
'cause we wanted him dead
for a crime that he never took part in



they took him to sea
to bury you see
in a grave where nobody could gather

'cause they feared he would be
as Mohammad (bless he)
in his death to all Muslims a Hammer

A Hammer of God
in death's sandals was shod
by a foe in who's hearts was no pardon

what they did not foresee
from the depths of the sea
rose the ghost of Osama bin Laden



not long after that
the navy SEALs sat
in a chopper that flew over Kabul

but warfare is grim
and you're chances are slim
if you think that you are Captain Marvel

a grenade-rocket flew
and destroyed all the crew
who's death they had all played a part in

as they died without sound
right there on the ground
was the ghost of Osama bin Laden



in a world full of woe
with the US on show
and it's policies all death and plunder

it's not hard to forsee
what the outcome will be
and i'm shocked by the spell that you're under

you can't claim higher ground
that your morals are sound
like the movies your best have all stared in

if you don't change your tune
you'll be visted soon
by the ghost of Osama bin Laden


seen this comic of bin Laden's death?

if you liked this you might also like Various other Posts to do with Oil

Peak People

I've heard about the oil peak - depletion of reserves
and doomers claiming that we're screwed is getting on my nerves
and prices going ever up no matter what the cost
but the real problem seems to be peak-people

The talk of global warming - all the carbon in the air
the scientists are warning - but tax payers do not care
and all the talk on carbon tax has left me feeling lost
so i guess i'm just another stupid sheeple

i've often wondered if the peak of population looms
and our time is bright but short just like a fleeting flower blooms
and maybe there's no going back the tipping point's been crossed
'cause we're all of us the most we'll be - peak people

if it's lonely at the pinnacle of seven billion souls
far lonelier it is to be the last left digging holes
to bury all our kindred dead their tombs might be embossed
with the simple words "here lies the last of people"


if you liked this you might also like "when the future comes a knockin'"


( for more on "Peak People" see

    here: http://www.slf.org.au/calendar/event/6179
    here: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48677
    here: http://www.321energy.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty020711.html

and of course:

    Tragedy of the Commons

)

a beast woke me

i woke the other night
it was a beast that woke me
a violent sound
scream and pound
on wall or door

a monster kills my neighbour
so urged my amygdala that i grabbed a bat and went

into the night

a giant policeman saw me
so sorry he said

we have him in the van

a man

today the news is grim again
economies collapse
more deaths more fighting

the future is frightening

we nice and civil sorts

we're dead

soon

happy birthday mum

to you mum happy birthday
and i wish you many more
i hope you have a lovely day
and presents by the score

you've always been there for my need
you've never let me down
and even when things aren't so good
you never wear a frown

they say the ancient sages
taught praise for God above
but you're the only one i've known
to teach me peace and love

to me you are a sage of peace
who harms no living thing
who cherishes all forms of life
that walk or crawl or sing

if more of us were just like you
the world would not be bad
there'd be more understanding
so mum i hope you're glad

for all that you've achieved in life
can not be bought or sold
your children and their children too
and their's are our true gold

and all of us look up to you
and all that you have done
so i can say with all my heart
i'm proud to be your son

Taliban executions

not for the faint hearted: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd3_1310954791

there's no question that might be asked that leads to understanding

this is humans believing in a "justice" so absolute that all other law seems by comparison meaningless

i wonder just to what extent we are implicated in this

a butterfly flaps its wings in Washington......




(even more chilling is this: Collateral Murder)

Flations

So what are all these "flations"
that people talk about?
it's plain that there's at least two sides
two sides that scream and shout

"deflation" screams Mish Shedlock
Puplava he says "no!
Inflation is the way of things
i'm rich so i should know"

We're common folk who walk the streets
and spend our hard earned cash
on things we need to live each day
so we should not be rash

Or take a risk on borrowing
when all could turn to shit
oh no we must be careful now
we're hording every bit

So when we hear "inflation" yelled
across the MSM
we're worried that our savings will
be worthless in the end

and when we hear "deflation"
we scratch our heads and think
the falling value of our house
is headed for the sink

don't tell me it's velocity
or credit we can spend
or talk of printing money
that is worthless in the end

the truth is that reality
has crept up from behind
while we were drunk on boundless oil
that anyone could find

as asset prices crash and burn
and milk and bread costs rise
the net effect is just the same
for us it's no surprise

if anything cost all our cash
it's value will decline
and anything we need to live
will climb and climb and climb

so take your stupid "flations"
and shove them where it's dark
the simple truth is that we're fucked
it's simple, true and stark



deflation as we have it now is where the value of everything most people possess goes down - which means the cost of everything you NEED can go up


a good read on why gold prices go up during deflation can be found on Paul Krugman's Blog


if you liked this you might also like "Fred and Bill"

Fred and Bill

first published: 07/13/2011 zerohedge.com

Fred said “Bill i think we’re fucked”
to which Bill asked “why so?”
“well”, Fred began (not in a rush)
“i can’t say that i know

but what i see when i look around
is freakin’ me fuckin’ out”
Bill, thought a bit and then replied
“so what’s this all about?”

“oh Bill this damned economy
just doesn’t make much sense
we all work and we pay our way
for little recompense

and every year it just gets worse
the news is always grim
there’s less and less employment
and the profits are so slim

and housing, what a fuckin’ mess
those thieving bankers wrought
has left most underwater
on any house they bought

and all those folks in Europe now
their leaders sold them out
the average workin’ family
there knows not what it’s about

and China, bloody China, look
it’s like a monster fire
a burnin’ all and everything
in a global funeral pyre

and all that carbon in the air
they say we’re gonna cook
and all the oil is runnin’ out
there’s nowhere left to look

and people, Bill the people -
there’s billions of us now
and millions more are born each day
who’ll feed them all and how?

i tell you Bill I’m in despair
i’m almost without hope
the future’s looking so so bad
i don’t know how i’ll cope”

Bill pondered for a while Fred’s words
with heavy heart and mind
he had to cheer his partner up
with gentle words and kind

“Fred, listen man it’s not so grim
there’s so much out there yet
the planets, well we’ll mine them too
and think of what we’ll get

remember Chris Columbus?
he found a brave new land
with oil and gold and silver to
so see and understand

the universe is infinite
it’s ours there just to take
there’s nothing that can stop us
there’s nothing we can’t make

some times are tough and some are good
we do the best we can
we bear the worst, enjoy the best
so lighten up ol’ man”

and Fred, he did, he swallowed it
and heaved a mighty sigh
a smile broke out upon his lips
he waved and said goodbye.

And as his best friend walked away
Bill, cried a bit inside
because you see our Bill he thought
to Fred he’d downright lied

“there’s no bright future for our race
we’re fucked and Fred was right
we’re so so fuckin’ stupid
that in the end we’ll fight

we’ll fight and kill in millions
we’ll drag our neighbors down
we’ll kill and steal and lie and cheat
and in our shit we’ll drown

the rich will party on and on
the poor will starve and die
the middle class will whither
and our mothers they will cry

we’re terminal our species
like beasts we are but worse
and all the beauty we create
adorns our funeral hearse.”

And as ol’ Bill did walk away
into the setting sun
the sound of drunken revelry
had only just begun


if you liked this you might also like "Peak People"

When the Bankers go to Jail

first published: 07/12/2011 at zerohedge.com (in the comments section which, by 2019, had been scrubbed - i guess even zero hedge has to deal with the reality of data size)

2019

2013 just after i wrote it then promptly forgot it



song version (varies)

Dm                                                 C
the Bible tells us not to steal - it’s there in black and white

                                                       Dm     C                Dm
our laws are based upon it too: do not do wrong - do right

      Dm                                                                 C

yet somehow since these laws were writ we've seen the system fail

                                                                            Dm       C       Dm
but things will change for all the best when the bankers go to jail

                G                                                            Dm
when the bankers go to jail my friends, when the bankers go to jail
          G                                                   Dm
we’ll all be dancing in the streets, we'll laugh and sing as well
          G                                          Dm
we’ll finally see justice done, god damn them all to hell
          Bb                                                           Dm       C       Dm
we’ll hear the bells of freedom ring when the bankers go to jail


if things were as they ought to be when any business fails
investors take a haircut amid their tears and wails

but in the twisted system our politicians hail
the working folk pay all the bills and loose their jobs as well

chorus

well it seems the banks keep growing - the banker's pay as well
no matter what they steal from us they never seem to fail

but one day soon we'll take a stand - we workers will prevail
we'll tar and feather all of them and send them all to jail

chorus

---

the original poem

the Bible tells us not to steal
it’s there in black and white
our laws are based upon it too
do not do wrong - do right

but somehow since these laws were writ
we've seen the system fail
but things will change for all the best
when the bankers go to jail

when the bankers go to jail my friends
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll finally see justice done
when the bankers go to jail

when the vampire squid has been deep-fried
in the slime of Bernank’s words
when politicians tell the truth
and not be lying turds

when "austerity" applies to them
and fairness does prevail
we’ll finally see justice done
and the bankers go to jail

when the bankers go to jail ee-hah
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll all be dancing in the streets
when the bankers go to jail

if all was as it ought to be
when any business fails
investors take a haircut
amid their tears and wails

but in our mean kleptocracy
that the MSM does hail
the working class pay all the bills
and no banker goes to jail

when the bankers go to jail dear God
when the bankers go to jail
the haircuts will be number ones
when the bankers go to jail

we’re predators i must admit
it’s human nature too
to seek a better living for
our wives and children too

but animals we’re not you see
it not just fine detail
we keep the law, control ourselves
and the bankers go to jail

yes you bankers go to jail you thieves
all you bankers go to jail
you’ll be some brother’s jail-house bitch
when you bankers go to jail

you may think it’s a silly dream
to think of their demise
they’re oh so very powerful
and every banker lies

but one day soon we’ll overthrow
and have them by the tail
we’ll tar and feather all of them
and send them all to jail

when the bankers go to jail for good
when the bankers go to jail
we’ll hear the bells of freedom ring
when the bankers go to jail


(maw! Dan'l done shot his self a banker wid his gun maw. Maw! I done gotta shoot a banker too maw.

You watch yawself Brad. Dem bankers is nasty nasty things and th' best thung yawl can do is haul off and shoot dem from a goodly distance wid yo shotgun - ya hear me boy?)


if you liked this you might like "for our sons and daughters too".

p

might have had the stars

first published: Jun 26 2011 

energybulletin.net

there is no fat left in the land
we’ve sucked poor Gaia dry
we’ve partied while we raped and burned
what’s left? Who knows? Not i

we’re predators who've preyed ‘til now
on everything we saw
but all that’s left to prey upon
is us. So now it’s war.

The strong will prey upon the weak
the young upon the old
to keep the middle class alive
our children will be sold

descent to bloody anarchy
will shred our civil skin
the truth of what we really are
is just now sinking in

we’re all so nice and proper
when Gaia foots the bill
but now the piper must be paid
the calls are loud and shrill:

“we have to kill the bankers
the politicians too
the CEOs and billionaires
kill them and all their crew

and all with aspirations
to grow and grow and grow
we’d better knock that on the head
and put their heads on show”

and when we're scrabbling in the dirt
for anything to eat
and almost everyone is dead
including the elite

we’ll be what we were in the days
before our “reason” dawned
before we dreamed that we were gods
before our greed was spawned

we’ll fade and die a species
that might have had the stars
but lacked some fundamental thing
we used up in our cars