there has always been an elite class
the coal mine owner with coal miners
in the dark historic working 12 hours
coal miners endured grueling working conditions
long working hours typically twelve-hour days
coal miners black lungs laboured no sleep in hay
working in stale poisoned air cramped hell lightless
the plantation owner of slave cotton fields
slaves picking cotton back breaking baked in the sun
an overseer with whip gun but mercy none
who planned the orchestrated annihilation of incomes
who slaughtered the purchasing power of worker wages?
who attacked living standards of low income workers?
post depression workers were finally living a good life
there was a post World War 2 boom in worker salaries
but between 1978 and 2016 a sinister pattern emerged
there was an instituted disparity in cost salary equations
the cost of food had increased by 244%
the cost of shelter had increased by 380%
the cost of medical care had increased by 601%
the cost of college tuition had increased by 1,120%
meanwhile salaries paid were a crime disproportionate
minimum-wage workers salaries fell by 5.5%
typical workers had salary increases of a mere 10%
average CEO salaries rose by a huge 937%
minimum-wage workers salaries barely worth a dime
minimum-wage workers salaries were a society crime
minimum-wage workers salaries below poverty line
percentage salary increases of huge salaries is massive
percentage salary increases of barely scratching a living
is a percentage increase of below living wages below
poverty line into sweat shop slavery is struggle dying
dirt poor dead end no hope crushed into perpetual slum life
sources above: EPI, Bloomberg, US Labour Department
this is not a who stole the cookie from cookie jar crime
this is a thief stole everything barely left a worker dime
the question is who implemented this system over time?
who betrayed average low salaried American people?
the question is
who engineered this system
who betrayed
the American people?
do the math and reveal
the deliberate creation
of a salary poverty class
modern slavery entombed
in a pyramid system supporting
an entitled mega rich 1% elite
a tin shack in heaven or a mansion in hell
Terence George Craddock (Afterglows Echoes Of Starlight)
Copyright © Terence George Craddock
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem