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.)