Friends and Adversaries

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRADE 

 

Friends and Adversaries

 

We used to be the best of friends

Now we pose a threat

On trade our friendship now depends

The balance of our debt

 

For Canada and Mexico

Our patience has grown thin

The tariff threat will come and go

And neither side will win

 

Brazil was once our ally

When Bolsonaro was in charge

But Trump and Lula will not lie

Their relationship is hard

 

We used to like democracies

At the least we gave the lie

Now we only like autocracies

That virtue would defy

 

We need to find our truth again

We’ve lost it in the haze

Let’s move to where we’ve never been

Those better, brighter days

 

 

The American Crisis

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

The American Crisis

 

Mark Carney* and the Canadian nation

Have arrived at a critical crossroad

Like a runaway train approaching as station

They are asked to carry a heavy load

 

He must deal with the brute at the border

Who has neither a heart nor ears

Who isn’t concerned with the mass disorder

Caused by the ship that he steers

 

More than two hundred years of alliance

Shattered in the quick of an hour

Our friendship and trade were reliant

Now they’ve turned rotten and sour

 

They must find a way to appease him

Without becoming his pet

Any moment the wrath could seize him

And send us all into massive debt

 

Oh how I wish we could turn back time

To a place where we all got along

When the northern winds were calm and sublime

But that was only a dream in a song

 

* Canada’s new Prime Minister

 

Around the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Around the World

 

The war in Gaza rages

The war in Yemen holds

The wars progress in stages

The Ukrainians will not fold

 

The tariff wars intensify

Across the global stage

Our leaders taking foreign bribes

The Saudis are in play

 

Everywhere we plant a seed

The future is in doubt

Autocracies grow like weeds

Democracy is out

 

The war is raging everywhere

Our rights are on the run

Those in power do not care

The reckoning has begun

 

The warming is the greatest threat

To all that live on earth

We’ve just begun to pay the debt

How much is the planet worth?

 

Apple Moves to India

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRADE WARS

 

Apple Moves to India

 

In the great American trade war

Is this what you had in mind?

They’re shopping for a back door

The cheapest labor they can find

 

They’re not moving to our nation

Not at this or any time

They will find another station

It’s a dollar to a dime

 

It’s been known throughout the ages

They will go where costs are cheap

In the matter of living wages

What you sow is what you reap

 

Where they go others will follow

It’s whack-a-mole to the core

All your promises are really hollow

In the wastelands of your war

 

We all want to bring back jobs

But brother this is not the way

It’s like paying a thief to rob

Or asking an atheist to pray 

Are We Better Off Today?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Better Off

 

You’re a worker in an auto plant

Your right to organize is done

You’re just a line of worker ants

The management has won

Your union is all but banned

You work longer hours for lesser pay

So tell me, mister Trump’s your man

Are you better off today?

 

You’re a seller on the market floor

Selling shares of stocks and bonds

Your brokerage shows you the door

The final curtains drawn

They wanted less, you gave them more

You are not where you belong

They wanted you to show the way

But every way was wrong

Are you better off today?

 

You’re the manager of a warehouse

Your workers come and go

They’re all as quiet as a mouse

Until the border agents show

Most of them will run away

What you do you do not know

Who works so hard for lower pay?

So now that you have fallen low

Are you better off today?

 

Your family is a source of pride

That bond is made of gold

You take the changes all in stride

Though some of them are bold

Your second son is married

To a woman who was sold

Her former spouse was buried

For not belonging to the fold

You’d cry out but you are afraid

Are you better off today?

 

No matter where you call your home

No matter where you roam

You know that we have lost our way

Are we better off today?

Tariffs & Fair Trade

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  FAIR TRADE

 

Fair Trade (and Tariffs)

 

Tariffs are a means to an end

A way to level the field

Not a bludgeon to punish our friends

Or a weapon for power to wield

 

If the goal is to reach fair trade

Our tariffs would balance cheap labor

We would honor the deals that we’ve made

But we’d punish the modern-day slavers

 

For the nations whose standards are higher

For working conditions and wages

Beware all sellers and buyers

Understand why they fly into rages

 

We’re betraying our closest friends

While the Russians are being spared

We’ll all pay for it in the end

A punishment we’ll all share

 

I strongly support fair trade

But this has the mark of the beast

Our hopes for prosperity fade

While the rich are preparing a feast

 

Canada Strikes Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRADE WARS

 

Canada Strikes Back

 

Our president has made it clear

Our neighbors are our adversaries

It’s Vladimir Putin he holds dear

The entire free world is wary

 

As he wages war on our good neighbors

He thinks they have no cards to play

All our allies are out of favor

He thinks there is no price to pay

 

But that which burns goes both ways

The markets are heading down

We’re not the only ones who play

What comes will go around

 

The same for all our former friends

When hit they will strike back

Our balanced trade is at an end

For resolve they do not lack

 

So if we want to play that game

We’ll find that all will lose

To you that fouled belongs the blame

We all must pay our dues

 

(Trudeau announces counter measures

to US tariffs.)