Financial Leprosy

[Intro]
The consumer is in no position right now to lead the country out of a recession

[Intro]
We look at dollars coming out of one pocket of the institution and going into the other pocket. The issue is larger than are there dollars to educate our children. The issue is do we want to educate our children

[Verse 1: Michael Franti]
Financial Leprosy
We got to get up
And wait in line
For the soup toilets
And things to read
Fill out 11-0-1s
And take a seat
But then we got to
Find a place to sleep
We got to lay down
Upon newspaper, cardboard
Concrete, and plastic sheets
Effects of ’80s public policy
We used to buy
Full shopping carts
And buy useless products
Trained to drain
Not to remain
Red line economy
"I have a dream"'s reality

[Hook]
Well, self-effacing and mirror-hating
The ethnic notions and potions
But I still smell bad
Skin fader, tanning booths
In conjunction with their plastic boobs
And diet pills

All means to attract and distract
[x4]

[Verse 2: Michael Franti]
Designer glasses to see designer clothes
Designer cologne to wave under a designer drug nose
That sniffs through the perfume scented magazines
Try to make sense out of dollars
Often heard of, rarely seen
As an ear listens to the dial tone
I pretend to talk on a cellular phone
That I know I can't afford
Well I used to own this street
And now I'm living on Market Street

[Hook]

[Sample]
Narco-gangsters concern us all. We will need speed and bass. Bass

It’s a matter of priorities when in California, 42% of the kids in CYA are African American and are about 8% of the population. It is a priority when 40% of those in adult corrections are African American

[Verse 3: Michael Franti]
Thieves generating revenues
Lottery poverty tax
Druglords and landlords
And praise the lords
They prey upon us
How did they ever
Manufacture consent
A meal in every trash can
Myth of the happy hobo
CoIntelPro
The Cosby Show
Why did the they cut the Pell Grant
So they can build cells
Ten years in prison
But no tenure at the University
Is this ethnic diversity
Or is it public policy

[Sample]
The ones who need education the most are not getting it

[Verse 4: Michael Franti]
Chemical bullets
Aimed at the Afro diaspora
A genocidal ghost
Manipulates a suicidal host
And as high technology
Eliminates the need for manual labor
And Mercedes Benz logos replace peace signs
On the necks of our youth

[Hook]

[Outro]
The poverty industry
The poverty industry
They can find $750,000 a week to pay police, but they pay community-based organizations for after-school activities
The poverty industry
The poverty industry

The poverty industry