GANGSTAS OF WALL STREET
by Al Staggs
(from "A Pilgrim in Rome: Cries of Dissent")
Like drug lords of Mexico or Colombia
these titans of business
own huge estates,
private jets and
priceless works of art.
Yet, unlike the drug czars,
they are not committing crimes,
for all that they have amassed
has been obtained legally
through our system of Capitalistic Enterprise
which rewards the richest
at the expense of everyone else.
The magnates have no fear
that their financial interests
will ever be endangered,
for those who make the laws
that maintain this Capitalistic Enterprise
are in the pockets of those magnates who hold the purses.
No violence can be attributed to this elite class.
Weapons are not needed
to secure and maintain their opulent lifestyles.
There is immorality in the System
but the Press will not print it,
the Media will not report it,
the Government is hamstrung by deep-pocketed lobbyists,
and the Church is complicit in this injustice.
Instead of working to rectify the System
that has created a bottomless pit of poverty,
the Church passes out holiday charity baskets
and deludes itself into thinking
that this is enough to fulfill the teachings
of Jesus, the One who was born in poverty
and died in poverty.
The clergy do not wish to offend
those wealthy parishioners who give fat checks
for buildings and budgets
and they certainly do not want to risk losing their tax-free status
by speaking directly to the sin
that is the foundation of all evil
in this society that has lost its soul
to Mammon.
