Scarcity
In the 1930's
An economist named John Keynes
Predicted that by the end of the 1900's
Americans would be working
Fifteen hours a week
Keynes was a capitalist
Who predicted leaps in innovation
That would lead to a world in which
People didn't have to work
To have what they needed to live
Food, water, shelter and clothing
For the most part, he was right
By mid-century the Green Revolution was in effect
And has spared one billion people of starvation
The world isn't perfect
But global issues of poverty and hunger
Are in a far better place than they've ever been
What he failed to predict
Was the unrelenting side of capitalist innovation
Consumerism hit the nation hard in the 1950's
And ever since
Income inequality has gotten far worse
Despite having the essentials for people to live
We are working more than we ever have
To support this unnecessary overabundance of products
Demanded by American consumerism
And a false scarcity, created by
One-sided distribution of resources
We are so far removed from the actual idea
Of "earning a living,"
We use the term to explain
Why 90% of us spend our lives making profits
For the top 1% that own everything
The only thing we're "earning" is more merchandise for
A sick, spoiled culture
And CEO's that can't profit enough from it
We are not an artificial intelligence
What part of getting a new phone every year is a fucking living
What part of working for Wal-Mart is a fucking living
What part of trying to look busy at a desk is a fucking living
Who's living are we working to sustain
How does it feel to be the latest innovation of a broken fucking system
How productive is your self-destruction
How free do you feel
In a work-culture of burnout
Heart disease
Anxiety
Poverty
And depression
Capitalism is finished
Hypocrisy
Scarcity
If we're really being honest
What'd we trade for fucking objects
Hypocrisy
Scarcity
If we're really being honest
What'd we trade for fucking objects
Me and my pals all got our degrees
We're lucky to work
Seventy-hour weeks
That eight-hundred bucks is time well spent
And life well-traded
For this month's rent
So don't you try to bullshit 'bout efficient ergonomics
Reducing my potential down to pushing little buttons
Call it the merit of earning a living
Feeding hedonistic
Adaptation
Fifteen hours
Bed by ten
Burn both ends
And do it again
God bless American capitalism
For cutting the brakes on commodification
The incentive to make is all we got
With no incentive to fucking stop
Streaming, phones and fashion that's designed for obsolescence
Look at all the poverty that's come from our abundance
Lemme work for cheap
For my whole life
To feed a star-spangled appetite
An economist named John Keynes
Predicted that by the end of the 1900's
Americans would be working
Fifteen hours a week
Keynes was a capitalist
Who predicted leaps in innovation
That would lead to a world in which
People didn't have to work
To have what they needed to live
Food, water, shelter and clothing
For the most part, he was right
By mid-century the Green Revolution was in effect
And has spared one billion people of starvation
The world isn't perfect
But global issues of poverty and hunger
Are in a far better place than they've ever been
What he failed to predict
Was the unrelenting side of capitalist innovation
Consumerism hit the nation hard in the 1950's
And ever since
Income inequality has gotten far worse
Despite having the essentials for people to live
We are working more than we ever have
To support this unnecessary overabundance of products
Demanded by American consumerism
And a false scarcity, created by
One-sided distribution of resources
We are so far removed from the actual idea
Of "earning a living,"
We use the term to explain
Why 90% of us spend our lives making profits
For the top 1% that own everything
The only thing we're "earning" is more merchandise for
A sick, spoiled culture
And CEO's that can't profit enough from it
We are not an artificial intelligence
What part of getting a new phone every year is a fucking living
What part of working for Wal-Mart is a fucking living
What part of trying to look busy at a desk is a fucking living
Who's living are we working to sustain
How does it feel to be the latest innovation of a broken fucking system
How productive is your self-destruction
How free do you feel
In a work-culture of burnout
Heart disease
Anxiety
Poverty
And depression
Capitalism is finished
Hypocrisy
Scarcity
If we're really being honest
What'd we trade for fucking objects
Hypocrisy
Scarcity
If we're really being honest
What'd we trade for fucking objects
Me and my pals all got our degrees
We're lucky to work
Seventy-hour weeks
That eight-hundred bucks is time well spent
And life well-traded
For this month's rent
So don't you try to bullshit 'bout efficient ergonomics
Reducing my potential down to pushing little buttons
Call it the merit of earning a living
Feeding hedonistic
Adaptation
Fifteen hours
Bed by ten
Burn both ends
And do it again
God bless American capitalism
For cutting the brakes on commodification
The incentive to make is all we got
With no incentive to fucking stop
Streaming, phones and fashion that's designed for obsolescence
Look at all the poverty that's come from our abundance
Lemme work for cheap
For my whole life
To feed a star-spangled appetite
Credits
Writer(s): Andrew Hornyak
Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com
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