the sociology of depression

Not that I'm one to regularly post poetry, but this poem by Peter Maurin really gets me thinking. So much so that I'm willing to break copyright laws in order to share it with the Blogger world.

Wealth Producing Maniacs

When John Calvin
legalized moneylending
at interest
he made the bank account
the standard of all values.
When the bank account
became the standard of all values
people ceased
to produce for use
and began
to produce for profits.
When people began
to produce for profits
they became
wealth-producing maniacs.
When people became
wealth-producing maniacs
they produced
too much wealth.
When people found out
that they had produced
too much wealth
they went on an orgy
of wealth destruction
and destroyed
ten million lives besides.
And fifteen years after
a world-wide orgy
of wealth and life
destruction
millions of people
find themselves victims
of a world-wide depression
brought about
by a world gone mad
on mass-production
and mass-distribution.