01 / Societal Ignition

The Hidden Hand

Monuments

Count every blessing till blessings come due,
I paid for the prayer, then the prayer paid too.
No gods, no masters, just master cards and gates,
All rise for the price, all kneel for the rate.
Dead presidents in my pocket, voting present on the past,
Face value high, faces hollow under glass.
I got bills in both meanings, paid one, passed one,
Signed one into law, then mailed one to your last son.
Shook your hand, took the land, outsourced the blame,
Kept my ink clean while your name bore the stain.
Kept my principal spotless, spent every principle first,
Made your morals default while my principal earned.

I made a killing on a living wage, look alive when the ticker talks,
Dead broke blocks, stock price doing victory walks.
Got a credit line around the block, the block outlined in chalk,
Call it a lifeline till the signed line makes the heartline stop.
I chase paper till the paper cuts, contracts bleed in tiny fonts,
Fine print got a sharp tongue, says exactly what it wants.
I took interest in your interest, now your interest is mine,
Compound your late fees till your late nights overtime.
Heads I win, tails you grind, crown is just a coin toss,
Heads roll when the cost's down, call the blood a write-off.

Bottom line is a breadline, profit in the margin,
Write the poor off in the margins, then call the margin larger.
My bonds went corporate, your bonds went bail,
Human bonds break when the bond market scales.
I trade securities in towns with no security left,
Safe in my safe while your safety gets swept.
Collateral damage, collateral attached,
Put your house on the line, then I called it a scratch.
The underwriter wrote you under the roof,
Signed off on shelter, then sold off the proof.

Stock split families, shares up, rooms split,
Sliced the deed so thin nobody owns where they live.
Capital punishment, capital punishes quiet,
They riot with a balance sheet and call our balance riot.
Rated the wreckage triple-A from the tower,
Raised rates, raided homes, then appraised the power.
Long on your long nights, short on your long life,
Leveraged your leverage till the lever aged your spine.
Margin call at midnight, mortgage got a mouth,
House talks back when the bank walks in and the family walks out.
Default settings: debt first, breath second,
They call it default when the fault was selected.
I set the strike price so the strikers could not strike,
Exercised options while you exercised your rights.
Public float left the public floating face down,
I bought the raft and charged rent by the countdown.
Risk premium pays me for pricing your storm,
Insured my exposure by exposing yours.

Lien hit, lean in, loan shark, sink ship,
Sunk cost, cost cut, cut throat, pink slip.
Hot stock, cold street, old debt, new teeth,
Loose leaf, loose change, noose made from receipts.
Fast buck, fast blood, cash flood, drought town,
Boom bust, trust fund, dust bowl, downtown.
Clock hands, cuff links, punch clock, left right,
Debt march, debt rite, fed hike, dead night.
Breadline, headline, deadline, bedlam,
Cash king, caste system, cast out, kept dumb.
Line item, lifeline, life signed, lies itemized,
Fine print, fined people, final notice, finalized.
Loan shark, lone spark, dark pool, drowned town,
Cash flow, flash flood, dry mouth, downed crown.

Capitaliturgical, collateralocracy,
Securitizationary salvation-monopoly.
Derivative-deprivation, dividendominoes,
Premium-purgatorial respiratory portfolios.
Algorithmisery, austerity-automation,
Mortgage-apocalyptical residency-liquidation.
Principal-criminality, printable-immunity,
Collateral-calamitous casualty-currency.
Liquidationism, reservoir-appropriation,
Monetization-ministry, hospital-congregation.
Inflationary-asphyxiation, auctioneer-anatomy,
Foreclosure-eucharistic neighborhood-necrology.

Translation gets taxed, so I talk in the terms,
Every syllable earns while the city line burns.
They made hunger complicated so you pay to learn the plot,
Then sold you the decoder ring and repossessed the thought.
The money went up, the mercy went missing,
The market kept kissing the fist that kept hitting.
The riot wore cufflinks, the silence wore cuffs,
The god had a gate and the gate had a fee,
The fee had a fee and the fee fed me.
All rise for the price, all kneel for the rate,
Then burn the bill before it burns the state.

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