A contemporary criminal epidemic
Is the subject of this polemic
Its epicentres are the financial sectors
In the United Kingdom and United States
And its reverberations have left entire countries in dire straits
That crime is corporate fraud
Committed by the banks and the fraudulent accountants
Fraud by the hedge funds and ratings agencies
And in the fraudulent delivery of fraudulent securities
To people who hardly knew an asset from a liability
You talking to me?
I watch the party conferences
They give us their assurances
But we’re not their audience
They’re talking to the journalists
We’re all parties to politics
But not political parties
If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
Then calamity is clearly what these guys are all about
It doesn’t make you a Luddite to say
“Well, with hindsight, our confidence in the ratings agencies was totally misplaced”
Does anyone else remember the way
That they acted yesterday?
They said to put your mind at ease with a few of these mortgage-backed securities
Good enough for Lloyds TSB
Endowment funds at universities
And public sector retirees
Whose pension funds are intentionally designed not to invest in anything
Under a couple of B’s
