I Want You (To Afford Your Life)
Uncle Sam counts the cost of survival as Trump keeps raising the price of being alive.
I’ve been meaning to create a song from the point of view of Uncle Sam going shopping for awhile. The fact that Trump started an insane war with Iran that is driving gas prices through the roof means the time is now. This is my fifth song from the point of view of Uncle Sam. A few more and I’ll have an album’s worth! (As usual, scroll down for alternate genres).
Lyrics
Kitchen light hummin’, bills all spread,
He said “day one,” but the costs cause me dread.
Rent climbed higher for the same thin walls,
Same cracked ceiling, same leak in the hall.
Power bill thicker than a Sunday Bible,
Trump’s war makes the whole grid’s liable.
Heat costs more, lights cost more,
Every month another shadow at the working family’s door.
The the health plan notice slid in like a knife,
Premium jumped on the price of a life.
They call it “adjustment,” I call it a raid,
Cut help for the people, keep the insurers paid.
They say the market’s hummin’, singin’ all is fine,
But I can read a bill and I can read a sign.
I want you (to afford your life),
Keep the lights on, keep the kids fed right.
Trump said day one would make it all all right,
But the costs climb higher every night.
I want you, I want you (to afford your life),
Not get gaslit by a president’s lie.
We can see the prices with our own two eyes,
I want you (to afford your life).
Stepped off the porch, hit the pump on the corner,
Digits started climbin’ like they smelled disorder.
Gas went up when Trump bombed Iran,
Now every commute pays for a weak man’s plan.
Every gallon’s got war priced into the math,
Foreign adventures hit the pump awfully fast.
Then I rolled my cart under supermarket lights,
Found sticker-shock tellin’ me reality bites.
Ground beef priced like a rich man’s treat,
Bread costs more, sweets got elite.
Tariffs jam the pipeline, prices creep, then leap,
Trump taxed the shelf and called the damage cheap.
Picked up, put back, did that twice,
That’s the new national anthem of the age of price.
And when they raid the hands that harvest, haul, and load,
Food costs rise from the field clear down the road.
They say the market’s hummin’, singin’ all is fine,
But I can read a bill and I can read a sign.
I want you (to afford your life)
Keep the lights on, make it through the night
He said day one would make it all all right
But the costs climb higher every night
I want you (to afford your life)
Don’t gaslight me with a stock price lie
We can see the prices with our own two eyes
I want you (to afford your life)
Pharmacy counter, text says refill delayed,
Same old prescription, brand-new price to pay.
Co-pay climbed up, coverage got thin,
You’ll get sick in this country with R.F.K. cashin’ in.
Health insurance up while the help got cut,
Boardroom smiles with the safety net shut.
Then they raid the kitchens, the job sites, the farms,
Rip the labor from the backbone and call it “reform.”
Food costs rise, construction jumps, hotel bills climb,
Mass deportation turns shortage into overtime.
Mama needs a visit, granddad needs care,
Home health costs soar but the G.O.P. don’t care.
He told us “day one,” now look where we’ve been.
Higher at the pump and the checkout again.
He waves that stock ticker like it feeds a child,
But I’ve seen the milk, the meat, the medicine climb.
War for the oil, tariffs on the crate,
Raids on the labor that put food on the plate.
Then they smile for the cameras and call it a win.
Tell me who can afford to be American.
What’s humming?
(The market)
What’s hurting?
(Our lives!)
They can brag on the Dow till the cameras go dark,
We still see the total in the grocery cart.