Al's Opinions

Yes, poetry. It's not good poetry, but a poet once assured me that a poem is a poem if the writer says it is. Anyway, here is a poem I wrote several years ago about the global economy to express some of my bitter feelings about the consequences of globalization:

June, 1999: About Globalization of the Economy

Good times are here, we hope they'll stay
And let us have prosperity
That will keep us till we're old and gray
And continue for posterity.

Prosperity is ours, they say
Because our trade is globalized.
Market forces show the way
To a world economy that's unitized.

But, how are things in other lands?
We read that Russia's on the ropes.
Men in Asia who work with hands
Earn meager pay, have little hopes.

Good times for us, but not for those
Who work in plants to make our shoes
Or work at home to make our clothes.
Their plights are rarely in the news.

Cheerleaders for free trade explain
That all those lands must change their ways.
Until they change they'll feel some pain.
Productivity will bring them happier days.

How long to wait? How long the pain?
How long before they see the sun?
After years of work they'll still not gain
The prosperous life that we have won.

Businessman great profits gain
By hiring work where laws are weak;
Where corrupt officials can maintain
Both wages low and workers meek.

Productivity is of no concern
When workers earn just piecework pay.
The business will its profit earn
For owners who are far away.

Old and true, there is a saying:
What goes around will come around.
The time will come when we'll be paying
For our arrogance most profound.

The laws of capital rule us all.
Owners, managers, and workers too
Are held in global trading's thrall.
We all must pay the system's due.

What's good for some is good for others.
Competition drives all wages low.
Soon we'll feel the pain our brothers
In foreign lands have come to know.

So let us now be up and working
To oppose this evil trend.
Let us not our tasks be shirking
Until we can this system mend.