The Rich are Getting Richer

The rich are getting richer all the time,

Some honestly, but others due to crime;

And many live their lives within the law,

But only just, and certainly no more.

They use the laws that never were designed

With those of little principle in mind,

But rather aimed at normal honest men,

Not those at home within a robbers’ den.

They wheel and deal with money not their own,

And if they lose, it’s often they alone

Who walk away, much richer than before,

For money is the thing they most adore.

Their incomes can be staggeringly high,

A thousand times that needed to get by.

Each year they see their capital increase -

Additions to their assets never cease;

While those less wealthy whom the rich despise

Often see their income fall, not rise,

As wages often tend to stay the same,

For which the greedy rich must bear the blame.

Though differences in income have been vast

Equality was greater in the past,

For many men whose income was quite large

Had many obligations to discharge.

And anyway, the ratio was small

Between the workman’s cottage and the hall,

Compared to that which now exists today,

Where only a minute fraction of the pay

That goes to those on top is usually paid

To all those toiling daily in the shade.