A Scheme of Greed and Deceit

By Dee Newman

While the press focused on tabloid scandals
And sports rivalries, Wall Street financiers
Switch from being investors to vandals –
Unregulated, ruthless profiteers.
While a Republican controlled Congress
Borrowed and spent nearly two billion bucks
A week on an undeclared and endless
“War on terror,” giving massive tax cuts
To the rich which not only failed to spur
Growth, but also allowed austerity
Measures to be passed that have further
Increased income disparity,
As well as, the national debt – threefold,
The puppets of the plutocrats, against
Their own int’rests, continue to extol
“Voodoo economics,” with an incensed
Rage. As these fear-distracted populists,
Led by their demagogues, attempt to frame
Unions and immigrants for the long lists
Of crimes for which they, themselves, are to blame,
Congress turns a blind-eye to our despair,
Cutting programs for all us common folk
In order to fund corporate welfare,
Bailing out all those banks as we go broke.
By far, the most effective deception
Promoted by the filthy-affluent
Is the persistently false perception
That opportunity is pursuant
To will, hard work, and capitalism.
In truth, the wealthy are compensated
In direct proportion to the “gross” sum
Of the suffering they’ve administrated.
This system – where “one percent” can amass
Nearly half of our nation’s wealth,
While the distressed hard-working middle class
Struggle to survive the exploitive stealth
Of the privileged and moneyed elite,
Is a scheme – promoted as “supply-side
Economics” – of greed and deceit,
That cannot be ethically justified,
         Or, for that matter, fiscally sustained
         When unregulated and unrestrained.