1. The Banks Never Lose

Who’s got the power? Who is in control? Just go ask history and you’ll be told the banks never lose. They back the politicians. They back the corporations. Can you guess who makes the decisions? It certainly isn’t you. When the markets grow so do their pockets and when the markets crash they make money off it. It’s a pyramid scheme in your face. Can you take it, this disgrace? The banks never lose.

Throughout modern history the banking industry has grown to encompass almost every aspect of our society. Central banks, such as America’s Federal Reserve, gain power and control through deceiving the public and elected officials. A good example of this is the current world economic crisis. The Federal Reserve demanded a bailout for its member banks when the market tumbled in the fall of 2008 and even voiced threats to Congress members that complete economic collapse and Marshall Law would happen if the bailout bill was not passed. But the very reason the Federal Reserve exists is to keep crisis like the economic collapse from happening yet they could actually be blamed for creating the housing bubble by manipulating interest rates in the early 2000s.The bailouts only further put the United States into debt with the Federal Reserve. When questioned on transparency they claim they need their secrecy and even more powers so further economic collapse will not happen. Another example of the modern bank’s deceiving and controlling aptitudes are the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) using loans as a way to steal impoverished countries resources. On the driest continent in the world, Africa, the country Kenya must export its most important resource, water, in the form of growing flowers in order to pay off their debt to the World Bank. The money from the World Bank’s loans does help these countries in some ways, although it will usually go to corporations to build infrastructure the country may not even need, but by having to sell off their natural resources to pay it back the already impoverished nations are losing much more. In some cases the World Bank is even forcing countries to privatize their water in order to receive loans. Bolivia experienced massive turmoil after the World Bank sold its water to a corporation which only hiked water rates. Citizens protested and a state of emergency was enacted. Many were injured and several were killed protecting their right to their own countries’ resources. It’s obvious these banks are only looking out for themselves and will do anything for profit. To understand this issue fully you must yourself look into the history of banking and learn how modern banks function and operate. And not just your local credit union or corporate bank, study central banks and international banks such as the IMF and World Bank.

2. Tompkins Square

People living how they want to. Some may not like it but you would think in a free country if people aren’t hurting anyone they could do what they want to do. But this isn’t a free country. So send in the cops. Send in the boys in black. And anyone who looks funny is under attack because this isn’t a free country. “This one sleeps outside, bash him in the head. We want all the homeless dead. This one doesn’t pay rent, bash him in the head. We want all the squatters in this city dead. This one is just a little girl, bash her in the head. Because we want everyone dead.” Who acted with a gang mentality that night? Who beat up the sick, the old, the poor that night? Who started the trouble that night? And who lost that night? Tompkins Square everywhere.

In the summer of 1988 New York’s Lower East Side neighborhoods were in a fierce struggle with the city. Squatters and the homeless were trying to find peace from a society that was constantly pushing them out. The homeless decided to take residence in Tompkins Square Park since there weren’t really positive alternatives for them, such as a reliable shelter system or something similar. By no means was this tent city that was created a positive environment either, there was definite drug abuse and violence going on. But instead of acting humane and finding a positive alternative for the residents of Tompkins Square the city enacted a 1 a.m. curfew for the park. The homeless were outraged and so was the surrounding community. On August 6th, 1988 protesters filled the park and awaited the 1 a.m. curfew to be enforced. Police circled the park and at 1 a.m. sent in officers to begin forcing people out, this action incited a riot that lasted the entire night. Protesters did flee the park but held their ground on the city streets as the police lines pushed them back. Many were brutally beaten by police officers for simply standing on the city street. The police also attempted to scare off anyone taking photos or filming the event by beating them or trying to break their equipment. Several officers even removed their name plates and badge numbers in attempt to hide their identity from the protesters whose rights they swore an oath to protect. As the night grew long police did eventually fall back and protesters reclaimed Tompkins Square Park and flushed out the remaining police. The curfew for the park was temporarily lifted by Mayor Ed Koch. But over the next few months and years the homeless and squatters in the area were eventually pushed out by the city.

3. Money Is Debt

Keep banging at your shackles of debt without knowing why you are bound. You have to ask yourself are you truly “free”, or is this a modern day slavery? Yet the reasons are so simple they can’t be believed. Hidden behind a mask of complexity is the modern day economy. Banks issue loans and create money from nothing, based only on the promise it will be repaid with interest. But it doesn’t come from what is in the vault. It is simply willed into existence. And if there is only enough money out there to cover the principal, interest must be sought elsewhere. We’re then forced to take out more loans to pay off our debt and in return that creates exponential inflation that suffocates us all. Money is debt. The System wants you in debt. Money is debt.

Many people don’t really understand where money actually originates or choose not to really ponder it, which is a sad choice considering money pretty much envelopes everything in today’s world. This song was meant to be an explanation of the process and also an explanation how that system is limiting. America’s monetary system, and most of the world as well, is a fractional reserve banking system. This means banks may keep a fraction of deposits while lending out the rest, even though they promise to repay deposits at any time. Through this system banks can simply create money through loans and demand more money back with interest. But since only the money that was created, the principal, exists there is actually no way to pay back the interest without taking out more loans. This is what inflation is. As more money is created and loaned the less actual value that money has. It is argued that as interest is paid to the bank that money will then trickle back into the system to combat inflation but so far in the history of modern banking that has really yet to happen. Currencies continue to inflate and countries continue to gain more debt to banks. While in our individual lives we must also continue to go into debt just to have proper necessities to make it through life. In order to purchase a house you will usually need to get a loan. To get a loan you must have good credit, but to get credit you must go into debt to a creditor. But if you don’t want to stay in debt you need an income so you must get a job and have a reliable transportation to get to that job, which might mean you need to take out another loan to purchase a reliable car. But if you can’t achieve a job that will pay you enough to at least moderately be out of debt you will have to attend a school of higher education, which again will lead to taking out a loan. It is a vicious and archaic system. We, for the most part, will always have to rely on these creditors, who are usually giant corporations and are only looking for profit. They will change rules and rates to benefit themselves while we are swindled into more debt. Humanity has achieved many great steps forward in our history yet we still bend our knees to these fools who think they can keep us chained. We as a whole need to awake to the problem and come to the solutions that will free us.

4. Bite Your Tongue

On stage you babble and preach, trying to make some significant speech. But it’s just empty promises and empty words, just trying to impress the mindless herds. Bite your tongue. Nothing you say will ever bring change. You only say it to look good on stage. We’ve had enough of that. Just bite your tongue and shut your trap. You have no real opinion, well that is great. Just another gimmick to regurgitate. You call for substance but do you really know what that means? Finding substance in your music is a pipe dream. You aren’t full of positive new ideas; you’re full of hot air. You strut around stage pretending to care but you don’t, and it’s obvious. Obvious to any eye. If you don’t want to accept the truth and change your ways there’s the door, goodbye.

Hardcore in this modern day has failed us. What started as a reaction against the pop culture has only turned itself into a mimicking of that pop culture. No longer do bands bother to write any music about any actual world problems. Instead they continue to produce vague and meaningless bullshit about either absolutely nothing or their petty personal problems. It is very tired and very old. This song is a promise that this band will never fall to those selfish ways and will always strive to put out meaningful lyrics and music that will further Hardcore as a movement and not just a trendy genre.