You're Not Poor Because He's Rich Poem by David Welch

I.
You see them on the media,
internet and TV,
people who say, "Take that man's cash
and give all of it to me! "
Not caring that the rich fellow
has committed no crime,
that the cash the state steals from him
is a sacrifice of time.
Not caring that wealth is not a thing
that can be distributed,
that the productive must make it,
that it's a thing created.
There is no ‘pie' that we cup up,
but a force that grows and shrinks,
and when we take from those who earn
we undermine the whole thing.
The productive just shrug and leave
then the collapse begins,
don't believe me? Well why don't you
go ask a Venezuelan?
Jealousy is no excuse for
a confiscation sick,
you've no right to a thing they've earned,
you're not poor because they're rich.

II.
In the first place you have to see
businessmen for what they are,
they're not monsters out to get you
or they wouldn't get that far.
We all chose how to make money,
they go it on their own,
taking high risk for high reward,
often risking their homes.
Others choose to work for others,
and that too is okay,
differing methods, but the same goal:
To head back home with our pay.
Should we demonize a person
for the method that they choose?
Or do many of us simply fear
it's not something we could do?
We don't have the skills to run the show,
their talents we have not learned,
and rather then learn them for ourselves
we find it easier to burn.
Maybe we're just too risk averse
to try surviving like that,
can't stand people built differently,
so we hate them and give flak.
Maybe we just dehumanize to
make it easier to bitch.
But if they play clean then we mus face:
We're not poor because they're rich.

III.
So many seem to think that hard work
is somehow a great curse,
they think that they deserve money
without putting in the work.
They seem to think those at the top
did so without hard toil,
that they would never do real work,
never would get hands soiled.
In truth those same executives
work eighty hours a week,
I think honestly many people
simply don't want to compete.
They don't want to have to work like that,
this I can understand,
but then they shouldn't be so shocked
that they make half of that man.
And those who hate all sorts of work,
just do enough to get by,
you're never going to win big bucks,
even you must realize
that no one pays you what you feel,
only for the work you do,
just wanting money isn't enough,
you will have to earn it to.
To pry a buck from anyone
you'll need to work hard, not quit,
life's a struggle, now and always,
you're not poor because he's rich.

IV.
And what about those bad decisions
that so many people make,
then expect others to pay up for
their own foolish mistakes?
The student who got a diploma
in Queer Intersect Theory,
he did not stop to look at what
such nonsense would be earning?
Then goes and marches in the street
'cause he thinks he should earn more,
blaming the rich for the fact that he
has to work in retail stores.
Forgetting that demand is all,
it has the final say,
if you learn things no one demands
don't expect to earn good pay.
What of those who decided to
drop out back in high school,
how could that ever be the fault
of the folks with swimming pools?
It's common sense the education
can lead to better paths,
if you chose to ignore this truth
who's responsible for that?
The person who decided it,
just them and no one else,
thought if they choose better, and work hard,
there can still be paths to wealth.
Learn on the job, strive to improve,
find a weakness you can fix,
make yourself better, but always know:
You're not poor because he's rich.