The New Economy After the Elections

They travel Distances To work at the new factory At the mall To sell To persuade To show To ring up sales To stock shelves And keep merchandise neat and attractive. Customers Look Touch Examine Feel and perhaps Buy. Standing on their feet Workers wonder How does an An $8.00 an hour job Minus benefits Zero coverage Negative career Compute In their lives? Their parents had jobs Some for thirty years In a real workplace Free from outsourcing Goods made in China High unemployment And foreclosures. The store mannequin tells workers to break it up Back to their counters To do what they’re being paid for But there is much more beneath the surface of his words A threat Real or imagined The workers listen Because there is nowhere to go Nothing else to do. In the new economy. The young have energy To organize To demonstrate To petition For real change Time is on their side For a better tomorrow.