I’m one of the 99%. So are all of you. And I’m sickened by the greed and lack of humanity so prevalent among the super-rich, as well as the toadying attitude of their sycophants, the Tea Party (bought and paid for by the Heritage Foundation). Imagine the scene: a Kardashian clone, dressed to the nines, blinged to the booty, surrounded by security guards, making a “guest appearance” at Occupy Madison…
The Ballad of the One-Percenter
I’m rich and white – I’m on the Right, don’t have to fight
to get what I got, it’s inherited wealth
My portfolio’s in very good health –
My daddy made a fortune back in World War Two
Making planes for Hitler, and his goose-step crew
Hitler ran out of money, so my Grandpa went
to Roosevelt, said, you need ammo sent
to fight the Fuehrer in the British Isles?
Signed the contract, double dealin, all smiles
Racked up the dough while the doughboys went
My daddy didn’t fight, cuz Gramps wrote a check
to his Senator, so Daddy’s fitness was sus-pect…
They sat out the war counting up our money
Daddy never had to work, but he’s got plenty, and
I’m a rich bitch I got more than I need
From insider trading, that’s the trough I feed from…
When I need some…
I pick up the phone and dial Lehman Brothers
Wait – they fizzled, hell, my brother’s in the
energy biz, no sustainable use
no wind or solar, just dinosaur juice
My family’s hydrofracking anywhere we can
You own the land, we-own-the mineral rights
Don’t try to ban us – you’ll lose the fight
We’re making quakes with industrial might
Forget the war on drugs, you bet
We-got-some meth for you that you’ll never forget
Got your lighters ready? Turn the faucet on
FLASH! goes your tap water, gone gone gone
While you suckers stuck in the Ninety Nine
Make little tent houses, and sit and whine
We’re pullin it all out from under you,
sure as thunder, you can’t stop us, can’t topple us
Can’t get the drop on the steamrolling gop
That’s G-O-P and the Tea party too
You’d think that they’d be here with you
But our Koch Brothers made the Tea Party a joke
Ninety-niners, your rights gone up in smoke
Supreme Court has been bought and sold
with cold hard partying in gold’s stronghold
They come palms open and they drink the Kool-Aid
Then back to Washington, so we’ve got it made
We’re the super-rich, who itch for more scratch for another batch
of corruption – no interruption
of our consumption or their presumption
We got gumption – you’re all lazy bums
Bleeding us dry while you’re sucking your thumbs
Why can’t you face the fact – don’t attack the rich
the deck is stacked – the House holds the cards
and the Senate’s in our back pocket,…
rocketing to their next election, no selection, just a cash erection
Your drums can’t drown out my big-ass TV
in my fenced-in compound with security
They’ll Taser your ass if you don’t look like me
So stand your ground downtown but remember:
Another Oakland’s coming, maybe this December
So give it up, don’t try to stop progress,
Congress gonna press till we mine every field in Wisconsin…
Scott Walker pulling out his great big Johnson and
trickling down on the 99, sleeps like a baby, yeah he feels fine
We gave him power to Occupy the Dome
You can’t recall him and he won’t go home cause
He’s got the green, you know what I mean, he’s serene. He’s the Man.
He made a stand for all of us One Percenters,
no renters, no tenters, just the
sweet elite in the catbird seat
Obama can’t fight the gall of Wall Street
And Avenue K will lobby every day to have your camp demolished and the streets all polished of you
All of your crew, who think the
First Amendment was made for your kind
Constitution’s in the shredder, man, are you blind?
The Supreme Court’s mind is clear… the time is here,
Corporations are people and you, the sheep’ll go along with that…
eventually, once it sinks in you can’t flee the domination the determination – the big sensation
of the Corporate Voice Box, make some noise, FOX, it’s such a Rush to have them-on-our side.
And by their rules you will abide.
So pack it up and get on back to your shack
Or stop by McDonald’s for another Big Mac and a giant coke,
don’t choke on the lie ‘cause if you don’t have insurance, you’re gonna die.
If you don’t have a home, we won’t help you out.
Your kid’s school is lame?
Don’t blame us, we bus our kids to private schools.
We’ve got control, and we make the rules, you’re fools if you think otherwise.
Time flies!
I’ve got to primp for the party or they’ll eat all the shrimp, and my pimp the Guv, he’s waiting above in his ivory tower that’s powered by taxes. Your taxes. I-don’t-pay taxes. That’s what the facts is.
So sit by your bonfire, sing your songs, but don’t forget – it won’t be long before we take over like we’re meant to do and all of you’d better realize you’re screwed… dude.
Ta-ta, I have to go touch up my lashes. Have
fun with your unwashed hippie bashes.
© Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
Renee Espriu
Whoa! When you are on a roll, you are on a roll, Amy! I don’t think I could ever do it myself and sometimes I think I write on a bit too much. As always, food for thought, biting edge of reality and a pleasure to read what you write.
Sharp Little Pencil
I knew I was writing the Iliad of Pissed-offedness with every new paragraph, but I was like a woman possessed. I read about that Wisconsin vet who got flash-bombed in the head, critical condition, and it all bubbled over to the surface. Man, I didn’t bother to edit. A very James Joyce moment, LOL. Amy
georgefloreswrite
That rocked!
Sharp Little Pencil
Well, I was pretty mad when I wrote it!! Thanks, George. Amy
vivinfrance
Admiration for a tour de force of poeming. Many of the allusions passed this European by, but \i get the drift!
Sharp Little Pencil
Wow, VIv, many thanks! And don’t worry, some of it was Wisconsin-specific, so many on this side of the Atlantic won’t get the details either… but yes, I think the feeling behind it is becoming universal. And that’s very sad. Amy
kaykuala
Amy,
Yes the 99% crowd is the one languishing at the bottom and the 1% got the ill gotten gains and benefited from the bailouts. They get to keep their millions and remain millionaires. Their problem banks flourished! Others got unemployed and assets repossessed as a reward!
Very realistically presented!
Hank
Sharp Little Pencil
Hank, I had just come home from seeing “Margin Call,” a MUST-see for all Americans. It’s a thinly veiled but factually accurate account of the fall of Lehmann Brothers, the first of the sharks to jump the tank and take all the available coral, pearl oysters, and chum with them. An astute, astounding vendetta on greed American Style.
Thanks for the thumbs-up! Peace, Amy
dreamingthruthetwilight
What a forceful powerpoint presentation this is Amy. I hope many, many people get to read this.
Sharp Little Pencil
That’s my hope, too. Please feel free to share it, as long as my name is attached…! Amy
Roger Green
It’s interesting. I haven’t done the Occupy event – yet, but I AM sympathetic to the cause, and REALLY ticked at the idiocy of people like Cuomo. You may find this interesting: http://www.albanyweblog.com/2011/10-Oct/10-28-11.php
Sharp Little Pencil
I’ve been to Occupy Madison, which, like the Gov. Walker union protests, is clean, peaceful, and the protesters have good relationships with the police, who are used to activists. Thanks for the link; if I can stomach reading about more of Cuomo’s “fracking” stupidity, I’ll read it!! Amy
Daydreamertoo
For the longest of times, as far back as I can remember, I’ve felt that your presidents are only figurehead puppets and they dance to the tune of the money men (and women) pulling their strings in the background. The new God in this past century has become called Money. It is worshiped now more than anything else. Jesus turned the tables on the money lenders. (I wonder why) Yes, money is the new God and everyone wants more, more, more. America is bad enough but now the rest of the world has become affected by this disease too, and it (the world) is completely run on rich groups-cabals (all secret and nameless) having a hand in every single thing, to where food will go, or not. To where people will receive financial aid, or not. To where they will pour money into the country to save it’s people’s, depending on it’s monetary value (to themselves) or not. Humans have forgotten that first and foremost we are spirits in an earthly shell. We are here to experience this and learn from it all and we are here to do one thing and one thing alone, we are here to become pure love, in that way, we are doing what we ought to do to get back to the (Godhead) and by doing that we need to love everyone without condition, prejudice, and bias. But, instead of seeing a soul now in someone’s eyes, all the money people see are $$$ signs. There are many now starting to wake up, the world is shifting into a much faster pace and everyone of us can feel it. We are in the process of another huge evolutionary leap right now, whether some feel it or not, it’s happening and unless we humans get back to the basics of why were were originally here, maybe humans won’t be top dog once the change occurs and, really, with what we’ve done since we became so-called ‘civillised’ beings, we get what we deserve.
I am happy with whom I see as my God/Gods/Light and am not afraid of what the future holds. It has got to be better than what humans have done to destroy this beautiful God given planet in such a short time span, considering how long it took for it to all come into ‘being’ for human in the first place.
Gosh, sorry, I got on my soap box about all of this but, your piece is so thought provoking and excellent in telling it’s story of the greed of the money men (and women) who rule this world. Even socialist’s,communists,etc love it once the money starts pouring into their bank accounts and then they too, don’t mind getting rich while espousing, their equal rights for all’ messages in public. I never once saw a poor Chinese leader high up in the political party living in squalor. Money = Power. Eventually Power = Corruption. No matter who the party or belief.
Gosh, you go have a way of bringing out my thought on some subjects. LOL
I am not a socialist, I’m a patriot and love both countries I lived in (England & now Canada) I am a conservative but, I also believe in equal rights for everyone.
Jumping off soap box. Phew!
Sharp Little Pencil
Hey, you can borrow my soap box anytime, my dear! Thanks for a well-stated, passionate response to a poem I was hoping would receive this type of comment. Poetry can provoke a whimper or a bang – and you really supplied the dynamite! I’m planning to tape this one and send it to Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Miller!
Your comments in particular as to money becoming the new god in the world are RIGHT on target. How people view money, the making of it and their use of it, actually reflects their spiritual values. Think of seeing drug dealers on the street or prostitutes and Johns… think of the orgiastic displays that have become Halloween and, yes, the birthday celebration of Jesus (yeah, he was born in July or so, but they needed to distract the Celts from the Solstice, ha ha).
I admit I am not a patriot in the “America, love it or leave it” sense of the word. I’m a huge supporter of free speech, civil rights – but also a level playing field, which the Republicans like Phil Gramm Congress dismantled during the Bush Administration by deregulating banks and the mortgage industry. I am a liberal all the way, and isn’t it interesting that in this conversations, as with so many I’ve had, a conservative and a liberal can share the same passions on the same subject? Media may try to polarize us (thanks, Rupert Murdoch et al.), but we all have more in common than we think. THANK YOU. Peace, Amy
contemplativemoorings
The Kardashians are certainly good examples of people in the 1% who can’t really claim to be “job creators”…there are so many excuses out there for why these people deserve their wealth but they don’t really apply to most of the wealthy…it’s sad how many socialites and hedge fund managers make up the 1%…if that’s what you have to do for financial security, most of us are screwed…
I really like when you write political poetry 🙂
Sharp Little Pencil
Michael, thanks for this, especially your take on inherited wealth. Best example: GWBush, whose grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a war profiteer. I was in one of those “take no prisoners” moods… except in a pacifist way, ha ha. My daughter, Riley, went to a party in LA in a clingy dress, long black wig, heels, conspicuous jewelry (and she’s a little dyke) and called herself Karl Kardashian, the gender confused brother of sisters KKK.
Even the robber barons were shut down until Phil Gramm pushed through language in a bill (which, per usual, members of Congress didn’t read thoroughly) set aside banking and mortgage lending rules which had been put in place for OUR protection, to keep the playing field level. Day Traders, bite me. See “Margin Call” if you want to watch the step-by-step downfall of a thinly disguised Lehman Brothers, the first company to bail and take it with them… AARGH! Glad you like the political stuff! I do, too, but it doesn’t like my peace of mind… Amy
RJ Clarken
Wow. Just. Wow. I can almost hear the music this must’ve been set to (in your head? Our heads, collectively?)
It’s more than a folk song, but it’s not a lock-step march, either.
Actually, I think it’s an ‘anger-seeded screed’, sung to a tune whose volume is growing louder day by day.
Amazing.
Sharp Little Pencil
RJ, thanks so much – I know you are also a politically inclined person. This is actually a white-girl rap, set to no particular rhythm, but if I could memorize it, I’d do it at a poetry slam. I can act it out; I just can’t wrap my head around that much material! “Anger-seeded screed,” EXCELLENT. That’s it! And yes, louder by the day… we have to keep it going. Thanks, Randi. Amy
https://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/lost-soul-sun-whirl/
Richard Cody
Yes. Yes. Yes. Please allow me to quote myself: poverty is crime perpetrated by the rich.
Sharp Little Pencil
Rick, excellent quote, and I will credit you if I post it on Facebook!! My father said, and this was in the 70s, pre-Reagan, “If anything is going to sink this grand experiment called America, it’s greed.”
I take all my cues from the greats!! Hang in there, Richard. We’r’e going to need stamina – and we can’t allow corporate media to keep us barking at one another over politics, race, or gender. That’s all a sideshow to keep us busy while they count their money! Amy
Rosemary Nissen-Wade aka SnakyPoet
My Grandma, a devout Christian, used to express the opinion that greed was responsible for most of the evil on the planet. I particularly respond to your lines on fracking — a huge issue in Australia too right now, and a horrifying one.
Sharp Little Pencil
I didn’t realize that horror had spread to Oz, and I’m terribly sorry it has. Greed is now threatening the only potable water we have left. Multinationals are buying the rest… to bottle and sell back to us, as though water is not a gift from the earth, let alone God.
My dad said exactly the same thing as your grandma, and he wasn’t a devout Christian, but a mechanical engineer, ha ha ha. He would be horrified to know my sister’s son is big into fracking. I can hardly stomach his job… Thanks so much, Rosemary. Amy
Jingle Poetry The Gooseberry Garden
Happy Belated Halloween.
keep it up,
check us out, share your poetry with us, we are open from sunday 2pm to Thursday, 8pm,
hope to see you in.
smiles.
Happy November.
Sharp Little Pencil
Smiles to you, too, Jingle! Thanks, Amy
Peggy Goetz
Wow you really did have a lot to say in your Ballad! I have been participating in our local Occupy here in Orange County, California. I have written a number of shorter pieces on Occupy and put some of them on my blog. http://ponderingspeggy.blogspot.com/
Scroll back a few days and you will find them.
Sharp Little Pencil
Will do, Peggy. We have Occupy Madison here, but there is also the matter of trying to recall Gov. Scott “union members are leeches” Walker, so I think that will get more energy behind it.
Eventually, we will have to Occupy Washington as well. As for the Ballad, well, I pictured myself thirty years younger, a rich, spoiled Kardashian, no idea what money is worth but sure I was entitled to it! Amy
Old Egg
Really enjoyed the rap rhythm of this piece. Hope they see you as a harmless nutter, otherwise watch your back.
Sharp Little Pencil
Oh, they know who I am. I suppose I could sit on my heels and BE a harmless nutter, but I’d much rather be an effective pain in the asses of elected officials and the pampered!! Amy