Global Economy Lyrics

by Ryan Harvey

One cup of coffee, $1.50
Guy who picked the coffee didn't get $3.00
He's stuck in the belly of industry
That doesn't care about people

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricenter.com/e59944-ryan_harvey~global_economy_lyrics.html ]
Working on the hills on stolen land
Picking at the earth with his scuffed bare hands
Sweating for the profits of some rich man
That doesn't care about people

Buy a piece of fruit at the grocery store
Shipped from Guatemala, Chile or El Salvador
Grown by orphaned children of the civil war
That was funded by fruit corporations

A global trade system riding on the backs
Of family packed in wall-less shacks
Living in the fear of death squad attacks
That are funded by fruit corporations

One pack of t-shirts, $4.50
Girl who sewed the t-shirts didn't get $3.00
And she trying to survive in an industry
That doesn't care about people

Bangladesh factory, 16 hour-shift
No over-time, breaks or benefits
And they'll fire her if she gets pregnant
Cuz they don't care about people

New York banks watched the Thai Baht grow
And they took huge amounts in That Baht loans
Converted em' to dollars when they go back home
And it put millions into poverty

They paid off their debts in U.S. cash
Pocketed the profits in U.S. banks
And the Southeast Asian markets crashed
And it put millions into poverty

One diamond ring, a few grand
Kid who mined the diamonds lost his hand
As a message from the soldiers who run land
That are funded by diamond corporations

Wealth derived through poverty
From the lingering cuts of slavery
In the form of an export economy
Controlled by diamond corporations

Imperialism in it's modern form
Debt-locked, free-market economic reform
Blowing through the Global South like a tropical storm
Tearing at the seams of culture

From the cluster bomb to the rifle butt
From the gold mine to the clearcut
Capitalism's got the world locked up
And it's tearing at the seams of culture