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In a faire garden put there for purpose without ending,
Stood some one hundred plus hives and their attending,
Populations of swarming bees,
Gathering honey from the surrounding plants and trees.
Now you ask, “Why should we care what the relationships,
Might be, twixt the different hives and sailing ships?”
It is you know, for the balance of the hive’s accounts
That the bees search for honey in the greatest of amounts.
No one understands that the stock market is only a balancing wheel,
Where international sports move funds to and fro, hopefully on an even keel.
So that they may gain the greatest pleasure,
(as measured by capital gain) for the stocks they treasure.
And while the bees may buzz about in anxious flight,
Concerning their small investments plight.
The greater bees of nations foreign,
Enjoy financial pursuit more than countries warring.
Is the market tied to the economy?
Not at all. That only happens to the likes of thee.
The market’s concern is not the economy in the tank.
Only if the dollar’s weak and their investment’s shrank.
Then would the Stock market show a massive exodus,
To another safe haven but that’s not for us.
So does the market aid the economy,
Or is this an adult game of Monopoly?
Only when it enriches a few and they in turn use,
Their gains for personal pleasure and to amuse.
They may invest for future gain,
Or secret in a haven to avoid tax pains.
When the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates,
It makes it easier for those playing with our fates.
On the international stage,
They do their bets, wage.
Multiplying the leverage they enjoy,
In markets if they wish to toy.
Buying real estate and non-consumables,
Mink fur coats and sables.
The lowering of interest rates,
Pulls monies from pockets of old ingrates.
Reduces the amount of income,
That falls into the hands of some.
Those frugal investors with certs of deposit and the like
Have been told by the Fed to take a hike.
Old, mom and dad and grampa too,
Have less to spend on themselves and you.
They are the ones who now have less to spend,
Putting the consumer economy in a spin.
That spending is necessary to keep the leaky balloon inflated,
So that the wealthy’s lust are sated.
Next comes rise in unemployment.
Needing funds to cover moneys spent.
Who make up the unemployed statistics?
No one really cares as long as it’s some of Washington’s mystics.
If they would just go away and not be counted.
It would be a non-event, with no publicity mounted.
(This happen after some sixteen weeks or so,
No longer eligible; to unemployment offices they cease to go.)
So why is the economy in the tank,
And when will it recover; let’s be frank
First to address the tank issue.
All is blamed on Industry’s miscue.
The telecommunications industry,
And high - fliers of information technology,
Get full measure of the blame,
But investors somehow escape the shame.
Include the foolish states and their regulators,
Who acted as if there was no tomorrow.
That expected someone else; anyone would do,
To bail them out if they made bad decisions affecting me and you.
They found themselves on the wrong side of the curve,
As energy prices went up they lost their nerve,
They opened up their treasuries to pay the bills,
And emptied the Government’s open tills.
At the same time energy companies caught in the squeeze.
Paid dearly; their stockholders giving a final wheeze.
Prices of oil went up nilly willy,
and so did cost to make electricity.
Chemical companies suddenly found,
That to make plastic by the pound,
Cost of raw materials nearly doubled.
What to do? They’re in trouble.
First clue of industry sales declining,
Is found with your nose the air a-sniffing.
The gasoline at the pump suddenly had a richer smell,
From high value chemicals contained (dumped) in there as well.
Buying slows as the “consumer” dallies,
Will prices go up or down she worries.
People stop buying, as money’s shorter,
For the toys they wanted (spell that computers).
Things at home, companies no longer make,
It’s a “world” community clam-bake.
Buy what’s needed from,
Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians, Mexican, ad infinitum.
Five percent of the work force’s unemployed,
That’s one in every twenty jobs destroyed.
With two income families one in every ten,
On average has someone unemployed therein.
For some wage earners it’s worse in their case.
Prospect of not having a job is what they face.
Many are college graduates,.this time around,
Beat the boards for a job that’s not to be found.
Many are unqualified to do real work.
Being added to the work force in a quirk.
Employers hired them in a show of greed,
Accumulating people for which they had no need.
(Thinking they had better get them,
Before someone else did, on a whim.)
Easy to let these people go,
Since they were empty vessels in the flow.
Retraining was the cry.
Bull. You must ask why?
They are not going to accept lesser jobs,
Flipping burgers, manual labor? No, they’re intellectual snobs.
Can’t be a brain surgeon without time invested.
Besides they’re too old; physically or mentally defective.
And many fields are closed to them,
Tightly written job descriptions made pickens thin.
Most could not get a job teaching,
As th’ teacher’s union’s preaching.
No jobs for “outsiders” in schools were found to be,
For those educated in another branch of the tree.
They’d outshine entrenched dunderheads,
Even if poor choice, in their stead.
Government jobs at local, state or federal level,
Are tight and going to get tighter than the devil.
So all become consultants to businesses,
Or tried their hands at prose and poetry romances.
Industries that remained (and there’s only a few),
Survived. They knew not why and had hardly a clew.
Services businesses came and went,
Mostly when the bankroll was spent.
Growth was in the housing industry,
Creating new homes for the wealthy..
Not so in communities,
Where massive layoffs created miseries.
Housing was very fragmented.
In retirement areas, money was minted.
(If the new retiree could sell their house in the North,
They could buy a new one in the South at twice the worth.)
New houses appeal to aging retirees,
And other northerners easy to please.
A house in a gated community with all the bells,
Whistles, and minimum care is what sells.
A house thirty years old?
Forget it. Too much work we’re told.
Away from markets and shops,
Hospitals and airports and it flops.
Not many buy a place awaiting,
Fixing or upgrading,
(They don’t know how to do it,
But they do know it cost money too boot.)
After a while, house prices in the north-land,
Drop to half, like water sinking in the sand.
Then southern market goes flat as well.
Prices dropping like a shot in less time to tell.
The middle east continues to be inflamed,
Justification for death and destruction by any name.
(Israel’s unemployment of ten percent is less,
Than that which its neighbors are blest.)
The introduction of the euro stabilizes,
Europe for a while. Ignoring the politician’s lies.
Long vacations are soon to end,
As the population makes amends.
They are wont to fight amongst themselves.
As in times past; blaming other cretin elves.
Small weak nations on their perimeter,
Like Turkey, will feel the peals of distant thunder.
In Japan, hoping to prevent,
Fall of Government,
They’re working hard to stabilize the yen,
Before deflation worsens again.
China and Japan have a major face - off,
Competing with each other to prevent face loss.
Taiwan’s a chip on the board.
Will the USA play? What can we afford?
If China’s economy slowly disintegrates.
How does that affect our own estate.
We may have to save ourselves.
How much of our economy can we shelve.
Latin America may flame out (including Mexico),
Wallstreet bankers will say; “I told you so.”
In the US, while not acknowledged here; the recession,
Will probably turn into a depression.
So how are we going to get out,
Of the quandary about?
Roosevelt discovered the way,
A distasteful method, I’m afraid to say.
His conservation services, workers progressive administration,
Writers groups and other considerations,
Didn’t pull the nation up by its boot straps,
But, the Second World War was on tap.
The nations of the world soon,
Discover it’s better to make a weapon,
For someone else who does the fighting.
Than await slow death by starvation.
Expect the new next kind of war,
To be fought in the streets with bomb-laded cars.
Not in the air with bombs and missiles,
But by Rabbis and Omans with their epistles.
Here’re the steps to collapse:
First: No action within Congress,
Dem hopes to gain the house during distress,
And the White House is in their offering.
Never mind people suffering.
Second: With purchasing power,
Of people diminished world-over,
China has to make major concessions,
While unrest within its border regions.
Third: Latin America goes,
Into severe economic throes,
Riots become widespread,
Control at any cost is the dread.
Forth: The Middle East continues to churn.
Saudia Arabia and others see their palaces burn.
Will Israel at last faces up to the task,
Of solving their internal problems at last?
Fifth: Japan hunkers down.
No new source of financing can be found.
Can’t expect help from foreign lands,
Caught up in their own central plans.
Sixth: With falling exports,
China closes its borders as last resort,
And returns to communism,
By another named - ism.
Seventh: China and Russia borders at unrest,
Who struck out first(?) seeking conquest.
Neither side can afford to win the war,
But neither can they loose so it will be a draw.
Eight: The European nations,
United States and England, shuns.
Closing their doors to all outsiders,
Denying responsibility for all the disorders.
Nine: In the United States unemployment,
Checks are unable to abolish dissent.
Fifteen percent or better are “pounding the streets”
Selling their bodies or possessions to make ends meet.
Ten: Riots occur in all major city boroughs,
Troops are called in to handle the chaos.
Peace comes with an uneasy calm,
The eye of the storm before the new dawn.
Eleven: Housing market disappears,
Keys dropped in the mail box; the banker fears.
Too big to fail are Sally and Fred
But makes no difference to people’s dread.
Twelve: Government discovers,
That inflation’s spiraling cover,
Reduces commitment to retires and the others,
Lost in the system as rising cost smothers.
Thirteen: Medical cost, a moot question amongst the ills,
As no one willingly pays their mounting bills.
Hospitals close and doctors retire,
Unwilling to be caught up in the legislative mire.
Fourteen: The United States hoping to please,
Joins Russia in the war against the Chinese,
Land war fought with great loss of life,
Killing million, but does little to end the strife.
Fifteen: After a prolonged fight,
It’s acknowledged that there is no right.
Peace is declared over World’s war-torn face,
And, the new world order is in place.
Sixteen: Difference between communism and capitalism
Is erased and given an new name, a new -ism.
Supplies from the government carefully controlled,
Ensuring that all “citizens” remain in the fold.
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Epilogue-
The bees live in a “service society” meaning they produce little, obtain what we want from others and to raise capital (earn money or honey) serve one another. Or by another name it’s an economy based on consumption. Perhaps it is good to remember that there is another kind of consumption. It was once called “wasting disease”. Veblin named the bee’s disease, conspicuous consumption. Both kill from within and brings those infected to their knees.
Interestingly, tuberculosis cases are increasing.
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