foreign thoughts

Today I opened the paper, and what did I see
But the most powerful man in the world looking at me
Smile he did not as he stood and he talked
Then a quick bow and with a shuffle he walked.
Standing next to him the entire time
Was a man who has continuously walked the line
A man who desires this world to be great and free
This man is the President of my country.

Last time that these two met, things were different then
The US was still the leader of men
Leader of the world, in fact, yes they were
"Well what happened?" you say, quite unsure
And I say "what an excellent question you have found,
Upon this very topic I now will expound..."

You see it all starts after the second world war
When no one was left to compete anymore
We had all the money, the jobs, and the food
But no one thought us terribly rude
For we were riding the highest horse
Free from any regret or remorse
We, the Knights in shining armor
That bailed out the world in the wake of a horror

While other countries dug themselves from a jam
We dined on fat turkeys and plump christmas ham
The age of American dominance had begun
As we set out to destroy ourselves, just for fun
But it was not with malice that we set out for such things
For whom the bell tolls, you don't know till it rings

While other countries wasted all their resources
And gave up their remaining powerful forces
For something as silly as healthcare for all
(well in one case, they did stupid stuff with a wall)
We set out to be on our own, to be rich, to be free
Free of me having to care for you, or you for me
And we grew, yes we did, in both power and wealth
While hiding the 95% of us that weren't with great stealth

And one day our greatest child was born
A child that excelled beyond all the norm
This child would take us above all the rest
And ensure that never would we suffer a pest
But no, reader, this child was not our military
It was the s-type corporation, a.k.a. the LLC

It was not in the office of a goodly doctor
Or even a nursemaid or an MD's proctor
This child was born in the courts of the land
And the wealthy and powerful gave him a hand
And with their support he grew and he grew
Until he rolled over both me and you
ANd to our credit the better among us have tried
To dismantle this beast, till their families cried

But most of us, I'm sad to say,
helped corporations make it this way
We watched as it ravaged our seas and our fields
They used up or labor to increase their yields
They drained out our life after filling it with trouble
But then they discovered the path to a bubble

You see just as people started to considering revolt
And started to expect their fair share of the bolt
Some men in those courts came up with a plan
To keep their baby out of those hands
"The hands will be happy if they have something to to"
Said Court Number 1 to Court Number Two
"But if we are to give them something to do,
We'll have to pay them more money and give them time off too"
"And if you give them time off they'll expect somewhere to go
Time off sitting in a hovel is nothing good to know"

So now the men had a solution
But too puritanical to legalize prostitution
They invented something far more onerous
Debt for profit, or 'now you can own us'
"Well give them a job with a little more pay
And something to look forward too, a vacation day"

"What a grand idea" said Court #2, "but what
else would they now expect us to do?
For you see, we cannot really pay them enough to be free
For if we did they may realize we are unneccessary"
"Good point, good point," said Court # One
Something brilliant and drastic must be done"
Just then a new friend arrived on the scene
A Banker, with a new concept:  A lien

Well to be fair, it wasn't entirely new
Debt has long been used enslave me and you
From ancient practice of serfdom, to share cropping, Amex
They are so enticing and yet they vex
Another way to have what you never knew that you want
Without having to do without that which you don't

Thus was born the credit card, a "way to make cash
Without having to dip from your personal stash
Wages don't have to go up when you loan
And the dreams you built you just crush if they groan"
Said the new friend, the Banker, who was in for the ride
The wedding of the century, and he was the bride
"We'll encourage them to buy, call it the 'American Dream'
We'll convince them that they need it to prove they're the cream"

"Eureka" said Court #2, "there's another idea
We now can give them all something to fear
If you're rich then you're right, and better than the rest
If your not life will suck, you'll be miserably depressed."
"What a plan" said the banker, "Let's start right now"
"When you can get the milk free, why buy the cow?"

And all across this brazen land
Houses were erected by human hand
And bought with money that no one had
To trap them in jobs that didn't make them glad
The system lived only to serve itself, filled with hate
Until the piper came calling, in December of 2008

Meanwhile the people that sat out that war
Every day increased their valuable store
They served those wants until the wants became needs
Then they upped the price to do those deeds
But by then we were trapped, ensnared by our desire
To be a rich, powerful, and lonely empire.