The Market knows best
\nThat’s what they told us;
\nSelf-correcting; the’invisible hand.’
\nLeave things to the Market
\nAnd wealth will be unlocked
\nFor the prosperity of all.
\nMans’ instinctive sense of self-preservation
\nWill prevent things from ever going too far;
\nThe drawing back from the abyss.
\nThat’s what the chief snake oil salesman, Alan Greenspan
\nThought, or said he thought; who knows?
\nA compliant tool of the mystic financial world.
\nAnd Nobel prize winning mathematicians
\nCorralled by the priesthood to sell their souls
\nAnd provide infallible formulae to show
\nRisk was a simple mathematical calculation.
\nSimple for us; you weren’t bright enough to understand.
\nBut we are and our secret is sold to the highest bidder
\nWho then becomes Croesean rich.
\nThere was a writer called Adam Smith
\nWho gave us the big boost
\nIn his ‘Wealth of Nations’ book,
\nBusiness bad – Government worse
\nWas how he saw things;
\nTherefore choose business,
\nThe lesser of two evils.
\nAnd so it came to pass
\nThe Imperial Mercantile Power
\nAt that time duly complied and
\nWith progress going well
\nRehearsals of mini collapses
\nTo tighten up the resolve
\nOf the bigger next,
\nAnd the still bigger ones after that.
\nIt was not money anymore –
\nAccumulated will to force the issue
\nTo a conclusion the fixated mind
\nInsisted was real and obtainable.
\nA financial fundamentalism, a new religion
\nSpawning empires, wars, indentured labour,
\nWealth and famine and later, office blocks
\nPacked with true believers
\nToiling for lesser motives.
\nTen thousand colleagues followed
\nWhere the MBA certificates of priesthood
\nWere doled out to the trusting acolytes
\nAs the whole world seemed to embrace
\nThis infallible new religion.
\nOr, nearly the whole world because
\nLike in Ancient Greece
\nThere had to be slaves to feed the frenzy
\nOf their enlightened democracy
\nAnd this new democracy of unlimited wealth
\nNeeded to be based on the other half,
\nAnd if there were not enough of them,
\nMore had to be created
\nTo continue feeding the machine,
\nAs the devotees maintained the mystic mantra,
\n‘The Market knows best; less Government interference,
\nA lighter and lighter regulatory touch until –
\nPhoof. It’s no longer regulated at all.
\nAnd see, you’re wrong
\nWe can ride our bicycles with no hands;
\nWealth still pours into our enchanted coffers,
\nWe will lend you whatever you wish,
\nThe economic cycle has been overcome.
\nMan is master; we need no god.
\nWe’ve squared the circle, explained gravity.
\nThe market has triumphed;
\n”Long live the Market.”
\n‘Our Market which art in the City
\nHallowed be thy name.’
\nThe Market has taken over
\nAnd we no longer know what is going on,
\nWe do not understand the secret
\nBut its own momentum pushes it onwards.
\nOh Glory, Oh Mystery, Oh Awesome wonder,
\nThou art great oh Market
\nAnd we bow down to thee.<\/p>\n
There was a small crash in 2008
\nDue to bungling government interference
\nWhich will take some time to correct,
\nBut no one can ever say again
\nThat the Market should not reign
\nForever and ever, amen.<\/p>\n
September 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Market knows best That’s what they told us; Self-correcting; the’invisible hand.’ Leave things to the Market And wealth will be unlocked For the prosperity of all. Mans’ instinctive sense of self-preservation Will prevent things from ever going too far; … Continue reading