Editorial by Mark I Rasskazov.
This song is part of a series, which I periodically update (when I feel like it), which I call the «TDJ SING-ALONG;» a series of commentaries about songs I find appealing, and which help me illustrate the Transegoist ideology. Sing along if you know the words!
This particular installment was brought to my attention by PJ Cornell (contributor; writes music reviews on this site), who was made aware of it by one Christopher Sperandio; Transegoist sympathizer and enigmatic New York socialite. It is a delightful, Barenaked Ladiesesque little tune with some incredibly brilliant, insightful, and densely informative lyrics.
TAYZONDAY & LINDSEYSTOMP — MAMA ECONOMY: THE ECONOMY EXPLAINED
Are you confused about the US economy? Well have no fear! I’m going to explain the American economy right now:
The dollar: just think of it like a promise from the government;
But the value of the dollar has to be there to be relevant.
The value of the dollar comes from China and Iran (!)
When they put their cash reserves in a U.S. dollar plan;
(Yep! China and Iran. How ’bout that?)
They buy treasury bonds from the Federal Reserve.
We say “we owe you extra money ’cause you gave us some of yours.”
And that’s a big part of the National Debt:
All the interest that we haven’t paid to China quite yet;
(Consider: how are we to ever pay off interest on «loans» that are taken out on the US Dollar itself?! This is a scam. It’s self-perpetuating debt.)
And a hundred other countries ’cause we’re such a good investment
The whole world gives us money; we say “Hey we’ll pay you interest!”
This is how money is created from air: bank bailouts, federal budgets;
Money isn’t really there!
(We’re suckers — and, ultimately, so is anyone who invests in the dollar. The banking cartels are scamming the entire world.)
It’s an I.O.U., remember dollars are a promise; when you borrow from a bank,
It’s not from other depositors; the money for your loan gets created on the spot.
Then they put it in your name,
Gamble on your life and body.
(I’m roulette number 23/Red. You?)
But if you lose your job then you were a bad bet.
(Whoops!)
If a million lose their jobs, then we have a recession
(Hello?)
Here’s the dirty secret: your labor’s too expensive!
(Compared to the Chinese? You bet!!)
Wall Street wants you spending money but they never want to pay you.
(Redistribution, anyone?!)
In your life cash and credit: they are very different things.
(Usually you use one or the other, I’ve noticed.)
But your credit’s someone else’s cash once it leaves your name.
(I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today.)
This is why money is debt, and your debt is good for Wall Street prosperity,
(Gravy, baby!)
And economic growth since the 1970s Is consumers getting credit without wages increasing.
(If you really want to get your mind boggled, look at how much these banks can lend out per dollar in cash reserves.)
So when they talk about the housing crisis they never say we need to lower housing prices;
We need better devices to afford high prices;
(Wait a sec…how did the stock market crash to begin with, again?)
Meaning higher debt — lower interest; ’cause you’re underpaid to begin with.
(Don’t worry; keep borrowing!)
That’s the cycle we’re in; we don’t understand, so all we can do is question:
(One would hope.)
Mama economy make me understand
All the numbers why Daddy’s on a welfare plan?
Turnin’ thirty, forty, fifty — gotta move in with my parents,
And the stocks go up, but the jobs disappear.
Because wages barely grew for 40 years: when you buy stuff,
They delay the cost of ownership.
You can’t afford it, so they make it to depend
On endless small transactions which is more like renting.
(What does your life lease for?)
You pay more for printer ink than you do for gold,
(Get refillable cartridges or pay out the @$$.)
And more for bottled water than you do for oil.
(Get a ProPur — it’s better for you than bottled water, anyway.)
Razor blades are made to oxidate, (!)
So you’re forever in debt to them just to shave.
(Whatever happened to straight razors?)
It’s a type of socialism called «market socialism.»
(Calling it like it is!)
The best designed product meets a need and doesn’t last.
(«Best» is a point of view, really.)
We subsidize waste with landfills and holidays like Earth Day,
Teachin’ kids: «recycle please.»
(Oh, the irony.)
Kids won’t learn in school we live one worldview;
(YOU VIL ZINK VAT VE ZAY!)
Neoliberal economics in all of our politics.
(Neoliberalism! Like Classical Liberalism, except, um, not at all like Classical Liberalism…It’s new and improved!!)
They don’t ask why corporations are human citizens,
(In point of fact, I don’t remember that coming up in class at all. Do you?)
Or why grandma pays more taxes ’cause she lacks stock dividends.
(Granny’s gonna have to take one for the team. And by «team,» I mean Mr. Rockefeller.)
Or why private bankers print the public money, (!!)
Or why democracy is broken: ‘cause their leaders won’t be cutting
Loopholes or subsidies for constituent industries,
(Constituent industries. Geezus.)
Putting legislative bodies in a deep freeze.
(Fire your congressman; he doesn’t work for you.)
So the Ph.Ds and the G.E.D.s cry with Ayn Rand down at the temp agency,
Sayin’ “We believed in meritocracy, but there’s more to the story – someone answer me!»
Ingenious couple of lines, here at the end. He invokes Ayn Rand. If you don’t know who that is, you need to figure it out immediately (click the link attached to the name to get started). She is the most controversial figure in the history of philosophy, and the controversy has no sign of doing anything other than getting more intense. The thing is, she has been the most compelling proponent of Free Market Capitalism in the history of the world, clarifying it’s ethical aspects much further than any philosopher before her — and she integrated it into her comprehensive philosophy, called «Objectivism.»
Here’s the thing: her detractors (and many of her more ignorant supporters) associate her with the current US economic system, and commit a genetic fallacy, lumping her ideas with the multitude of injustices built into our economic system, whereas, if you read her book, Capitalism the Unknown Ideal, she, along with some other Objectivist authors (including, at the time, Alan Greenspan — no longer an Objectivist in good standing) more or less jumped up and down with their hair on fire about the dangers of the private fiat system that, she, even then, was able to see would destroy private wealth in America.
Consider the gall of the anti-free market crowd who have helped set up the market-socialist system, and then blame it on Ayn Rand when things go sour. Incredible.
Ayn Rand crying at the Temp Agency. Simply brilliant.
Wake up and understand that you are living in a system designed to destroy your wealth so that you become dependent on the government.
RASSKAZIVATS 