they...

it's the first thing they do
a punitive reactive
to cut expenditures, because
we get compensated, and though
they over-compensate the few
themselves
the deserved core elite intellect
they under-compensate the most
and most of the most
are the ones that must go, because
less is best when more is better

sometimes they get the state
to reimburse the expense for having
to to pay compensation, so
the state extracts from our pay
puts in back in the till
the kitty
to award contracts
to build stadiums
to subsidize over-production
to bail out under-performance
and to go to war, because
sometimes it's easier to take
than to negotiate

we could stop them
via a regulate
sanctioned by the legistlate, but
there is something we fear
that they will let us go
into the nowhere to go abyss
and we owe them for our livelihoods
for our homes
our cars
our futures
our toys
because the only reason they
give us compensation
is so we can buy their shit
their products
their brands
their policies
and for a place to go everyday
and they lend just in case
we aren't compensated enough
but they want it back
with interest
so we keep coming back for more
to the plece we go everyday
and we measure our worth by
the amount of their shit we accumulate

we could walk away
we could disable the connection
we could unplug and turn off
not recharge
for this is our disease
our dysfunction
our predicament
we could choose to not qualify
we could not be pre-approved
for the new and improved
we could eat because it tastes good
and not to look good eating
we could dress because it feels good
and not because it's in vogue
we could drive to get somewhere
and not because we belong
to the hip that's going

somewhere