Anything Better

Anything Better

Ideas?

Out of college I floundered,
struggled quite a bit,
to find a job offering
the solid financial footing
I thought might one day
buy me a good life.

I worked part-time
happily stocking shelves
mornings at a liquor store.
Then one day I had the audacity
to question the value of capitalism.
The owner of the store shrugged,
shook his head and calmly said,
We haven't found anything better.

A quarter century on
with his store in different hands,
I wonder if he too now realizes
we're all slowly being strangled
by relentless market forces,
because we've been unable
to find anything better.

Now it's my turn to shrug,
because I no longer readily accept
it's our burden to earn a living
twenty four hours a day.

---

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
~ Winston Churchill
 
Capitalism cannot reform itself;
it is doomed to self-destruction.
~ W.E.B. DuBois
 
Unemployment is capitalism's way
of getting you to plant a garden.
~ Orson Scott Card