PoemPolemic: Anit-Capitalist Screed (for Melissa)

“I rend myself…”, etching, 1985, Artist: John Barrett

Time to busta myth

Capitalism is no one’s friend

Except the Wealthy,

The so-called well-to-do

Who do little else than 

Increase their wealth.

Look, capitalism claims

That it promotes 

Competition

And competition 

Promotes

Innovation.

Bullshit

People create because 

They must, because there

Is joy in painting, writing, dancing, singing

There is profound depth of

Feeling in the discovery 

Of a scientific principle

In the development 

Of a solution that no one saw before

Increasing a profit margin so 

Your fucking company 

Can get out front of the 

Competition

Is not that; it is not joyful

It is not life-affirming

It is appealing

To the lowest 

Common denominator

Greed

The people are not the 

Vulgar crowds

The vulgarians are

 The ones with their odious 

Overstuffed mansions

Their reputations for making 

More money

For stealing other people’s

Ideas to claim as their own

These are mediocre people

At best

Graduated top of your class

Bully for you

Slept through ethics

I guess

Look, 

Any one of these 

Wealthy-as-a-small-nation

“Masters of the Universe”

(Thanks Tom Wolfe)

Could give away an iota of their 

Massive wealth and 

Make a serous difference

In the lives of those who 

Die as a result of the 

Market forces they wield

But these Rulers of the World

Say

“That’s SOCIALISM!”

And that’s the other aspect 

Of capitalism that goes 

Uncommented upon:

It lies.

It lies, it kills, the drive

For profit is fuel for 

Exploitation, war, and genocide

The Land of the Free

Is crazy expensive to live in

Nothin’ free here

Not even dying.

As for socialism,

When it works, it provides

Health, education, and general well-being 

For all.

When capitalism works,

Resources grow scarce and costly

Medicines become more expensive

And upward social mobility remains a 

Myth.

It’s not inflation:

It’s price-gouging.

Supply chain issues?

Maybe with some kind of genuine oversight

And regulation

The transfer of goods could be 

Standardized with more of a 

Guarantee that they’ll get to 

Market at a fair price.

But capitalism doesn’t

Traffic in “fair”

It traffics in more for me and 

Screw you pal.

If there’s a trickle down,

Supply-side economics,

It’s the economics of 

Scarcity and selfishness

And ensuring it’s everyone for 

Themselves.

Privatize utilities!

Privatize necessary services!

Privatize the roads, the air,

The water!

Privatize the environment and monetize whatever

You can!

Cool, bro. 

Hope you can afford the 

Price of postage for your 

Overpriced insulin

Hope those road tolls really do 

Go

To

Something useful.

How many people do you live with?

How’s living on your own at 25, 35,45,75?

Oh. You don’t.

“Lookyousmugbastard,

It’s what the market will bear!

These people just didn’t work 

Hard enough

Save enough

Live a virtuous enough life.

They don’t deserve healthcare,

They don’t deserve a livable wage if they work

Because they work shit jobs!

It’s not my problem! It’s their fault!”

Spoken like a true

Capitalist.

Funny how many of the people who parrot 

The words like “Privatization” and 

“The market will correct itself” have no clue

What they’re talking about

Let alone like have no

portfolio.

We’ll, gee, John,

Surely there must be some 

Good in capitalism.

Nope. 

Costs of production

Prices at market

And interest rates

Are all gamed to promote the 

Above mentioned wealth that 

Moves upward, 

Ever upward.

Labor is to be exploited

And if food prices soar,

Well,

Workers deserve

To starve.

Capitalism is the economic

Ouroboros

Consuming itself from the tail.

Capitalism is the grand exploiter

Of labor, sure;

But it regards everything as 

Capital.

Living beings and the 

Environment are just 

Resources to be used.

Capitalism drives fascism like a V-8.

It tears down the highway while it 

Tears down the social fabric.

Look, when there’s prosperity

It’s not because of capitalism

It’s despite it

It’s not because the Uber-rich

Are magnanimous

It’s because the 

Markets were regulated

Prices and cost of living were

Managed so that one didn’t 

Outpace the other.

Imagine a world without 

Billionaires

Imagine a world where 

Families didn’t have to choose

Between life-saving medication

Student debt

Or paying down interest on a 

Mortgage loan to hang onto

A house that needs work

Imagine a world without 

Oligarchs who think nothing of 

Starting wars, of raining down death 

On countries whose population they deem less than human 

Or who imprison populations within their own countries’ borders

Whom they deem less than human.

Yeah, I lay this at the feet of 

A system that

Privileges profit over protecting 

Well-being of the sentient and 

That vouchsafes the need to

Preserve our biosphere

To exploiting it for monetary gain

Well, but capitalism works, right?

I mean how you gonna buy something?

You miss the point.

Of course, there should be some

Compensation for production

Of course, people should be 

Paid for jobs well done

But that’s not what capitalism does.

It drives prices up for maximum profit,

It squeezes out of people their lives 

For hours spent in waking at jobs that 

Are draining and pointless.

It creates corporations that 

Call themselves “job-creators”,

Jobs that exist for no good reason 

Except to make stuff that no one needs 

Or wants

But are convinced by marketing,

Another of capitalism’s weapons,

To want

And maybe even feel they 

need.

FOMO is a capitalist’s wet dream.

Somehow, the idea of taxes that pay 

For healthcare, education, and infrastructure

Became “socialism” around the late

19th century and was weaponized 

In subsequent decades

Despite the very real historically verifiable 

Example that government could work for the people

It was called the New Deal and built

The middle class that would be relatively stable for decades to follow.

But corporations and the politicians they owned

Didn’t like that idea.

They wanted to go back to Guilded Age of the late 19th century.

 

Look how that turned out; a massive transfer of wealth upward, high rates of inflation,

The Great Depression, and a world war, for good measure.

But look! That’s all well and good, but that second world war 

Wasn’t the result of our economy.

No; but Germany was still reeling from defeat

And a self-appointed savior came along who

Decided what was best for the Germans.

And yes, Germany’s economy was wrecked after the 

First World War, but it was the world’s capitalists

(And many of ours) who decided to help 

The Third Reich 

Because, sure, profit, but also,

The capitalists shared those values

That were espoused by National Socialism.

More millions die and the world settles into an uneasy 

Post-war existence and the American Way 

Is defended by overturning democratically 

Elected leaders and governments

Black people are still treated like second-class (at best)

Citizens 

And no one mentioned anything about gays or alternative 

Sexualities

But if nothing else, the fifties and early sixties in the US

Were economically stable

Even if the trauma of a generation went unnoticed

And unaddressed, divorce and alcoholism became social issues,

And while the so-called conservatives and Silent Majority

Decried the decline of American society, formerly oppressed voices

Were speaking up despite a ruling class that would

Shout them down

But a funny thing happened.

There was a greater economic parity among the population 

That seemed to come along with desegregation

Funny about that

Of course, conservative white people didn’t like it too much

And to be sure, that parity didn’t last

With the rise of Reaganomics in the 80s, 

That trickle down/supply side economic theory began the second great 

Wealth transfer that we are now reaping the fruits of in the 21st century

What a marvelous golden age!

So far, the only thing trickling down is pooh from the rich folks down their legs onto us

Or U.S., I guess.

So where does this leave us?

In a not very good place.

Capitalism isn’t just about economics in some narrow sense.

Its adherents would like to say that it’s fair, impartial, and amoral.

But it isn’t; it is decidedly unfair, extremely biased, and immoral.

Capitalism exists as evidence of what happens when 

Humans give into their basest instincts, when they 

Conceive of a world based on scarcity

And greed is justified by false “need”

The billionaires are evidence of what happens when

Pathologies of greed metastasize and grow malignant,

Subsuming entire societies in their wake

And yes, they spread not just by consumption and exploitation

But by lying and sowing distrust and 

Capitalizing 

On fear and hatred

The answer to all this is not in mere economics

It’s in genuine change from within

We can storm the barricades and take prisoners

We can try and sentence the perpetrators of 

This grand treason of the human spirit we encounter daily

But all this is a symptom of a deeper rot

In the human soul

I’m not sure there’s a cure for that

Honestly

Consider how many people genuinely feel

That the New Rulers are right

It’s not about education or lack thereof

It’s about something worse

A deep existential darkness

A yawning gaping maw of ignorance

A deep gnawing need of a greed

For something they themselves may not know

It’s not the economy alone; 

It’s the very human factors that drive that economy

The human all too human frailties that 

When given full reign

Enslave us all

Will we meet these?

Will we ever overcome them?

Who’s to say?

In the meantime, 

While I stand by all that herein is,

I recognize that fighting the forces

That exploit, divide and conquer, 

Right here, right now,

is necessary

Thus, storming the barricades of greed and usury

And bringing to justice despoilers, despots, and their 

Followers 

Remain 

Also

Necessary

It might be that without the dark

We don’t appreciate the light

But with no light

Only blindness remains

Make your art, publish your discovery,

Sing your song, dance your dance,

Dream your dream

In the face of all the darkness

Each pinpoint of light is defiance 

Of untold power.