For weeks a poem has been circulating around the Internet that details – with much humor – the derivatives-driven meltdown of the global financial markets. The poem, entitled Höhere Finanzmathematik, uses rhymed couplets to get at the core of the issue already in the opening stanza:
regt sich Kummer fast bei allen,
aber manche blühen auf:
Ihr Rezept heißt Leerverkauf.
(When the share prices collapse, nearly all of us despair.
But one group is jubilant. Their strategy? Sell short!)
You can read the entire poem on the blog of the politician and finance expert Oswald Metzger. But it was reprinted in many newspapers across Germany and each time was attributed to the great master of political satire of the Weimar Republic, Kurt Tucholsky. Only problem is: Tucholsky never wrote it. The poem cited was written an Austrian retiree. You can read about the mixup and how the true identity of the real author was discovered on the Tucholsky Blog.
But, while that poem may not have been penned by Tucholsky, it turns out that Tucholsky did write a poem in 1930 – Die Freie Wirtschaft (The Free Economy) – which anticipated many of our problems today. The poem takes aim at those who worship the free market, total deregulation and unbridled capitalism. Those who dare to critize "the free economy" – priniciples of neo-liberalism – are smeared as "Marxists". Sound familiar?
Here is the poem in English translation (translated by David Raphael Israel). The German original is below the fold:
Abolish those cursed tariffs
Trust your company director.
Walk out of the arbitration committees.
Leave everything else to your boss.
No more union talking their way in,
we want to be free economists!
"Away with groups" – on our banner!
Now, not you.
But us.
You don't need rest homes for your lungs,
no retirement and no insurances.
You should all be ashamed of yourselves,
taking money from the penniless State!
You should no longer stand together.
Would you please disperse yourselves!
No cartels in our territory!
Not you.
But us.
We're building into the farthest future
trusts, cartels, associations, concerns.
We stand next to the furnace flames
in syndicated groups.
We dictate the prices and the contracts –
no law will get in our way.
We stand here well organized…
Not you.
But us.
What you're doing is Marxism. Down with it!
We're assuming the power, step by step.
No one's disturbing us. Complacently
the ruling socialists stand by and watch.
We want you individually. To arms!
That's the newest economic theory!
The demand has not been made
that a German professor couldn't justify.
Working for our ideas in the factories
are officers of the old army,
the Steel Helmets, the Hitler garde …
You, in cellars and attics,
Don't you see what they're doing with you?
With whose sweat the profit is gained?
No matter what might come.
The day will arrive,
when the crusading worker calls:
"Not you.
But us. Us. Us."
Ihr sollt die verfluchten Tarife abbauen.
Ihr sollt auf euern Direktor vertrauen.
Ihr sollt die Schlichtungsausschüsse verlassen.
Ihr sollt alles Weitere dem Chef überlassen.
Kein Betriebsrat quatsche uns mehr herein,
wir wollen freie Wirtschaftler sein!
Fort die Gruppen – sei unser Panier!
Na, ihr nicht.
Aber wir.
Ihr braucht keine Heime für eure Lungen,
keine Renten und keine Versicherungen.
Ihr solltet euch allesamt was schämen,
von dem armen Staat noch Geld zu nehmen!
Ihr sollt nicht mehr zusammenstehn –
wollt ihr wohl auseinandergehn!
Keine Kartelle in unserm Revier!
Ihr nicht.
Aber wir.
Wir bilden bis in die weiteste Ferne
Trusts, Kartelle, Verbände, Konzerne.
Wir stehen neben den Hochofenflammen
in Interessengemeinschaften fest zusammen.
Wir diktieren die Preise und die Verträge –
kein Schutzgesetz sei uns im Wege.
Gut organisiert sitzen wir hier …
Ihr nicht.
Aber wir.
Was ihr macht, ist Marxismus.
Nieder damit!
Wir erobern die Macht, Schritt für Schritt.
Niemand stört uns. In guter Ruh
sehn Regierungssozialisten zu.
Wir wollen euch einzeln. An die Gewehre!
Das ist die neuste Wirtschaftslehre.
Die Forderung ist noch nicht verkündet,
die ein deutscher Professor uns nicht begründet.
In Betrieben wirken für unsere Idee
die Offiziere der alten Armee,
die Stahlhelmleute, Hitlergarden …
Ihr, in Kellern und in Mansarden,
merkt ihr nicht, was mit euch gespielt wird?
mit wessen Schweiß der Gewinn erzielt wird?
Komme, was da kommen mag.
Es kommt der Tag,
da ruft der Arbeitspionier:
»Ihr nicht.
Aber Wir. Wir. Wir.«
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Another word for Leerverkäufer is Fixer and the following is known: Der Fixer ist bei Gott beliebt, weil er nichts hat und trotzdem gibt.
Nothing new under the sun, as they say.