borrow one, borrow all

Miguel moved up from Mexico, Paco from Peru

Tex lived on a trailer park, his granddaddy did, too

Like all good Americans, they longed for their own home

But when you earn ten bucks an hour you can’t afford the loan

But where there's profit to be made, the money men come round

Don’t bother with the small print, though; it’s written to confound

 

So borrow one and borrow all, lie to them if you must

But when the shit comes tumbling down you won’t see them for dust

Some of them took ninja loans and some got one percent

Which lasted for the day it took to get the money lent

Some of them colluded, but some were just naïve

And predatory lenders are so easy to believe

Serial defaulters and the unemployed queued up

Regulators watched them drinking from the poisoned cup

So borrow one and borrow all, Greenspan doesn’t care

So long as US trade survives the 9/11 scare

 

Now the steel jaws of the interest rates are closing with a snap

And the hapless victims who were lured into this honey trap

Watch as their homes are auctioned at a fraction of the price

They paid on the day they took the money men’s advice

So what does a money man do with a book of toxic loans? 

Secured against the value of a million worthless homes

He’s true unto his ethics, as everyone can see

He packages and sells them on ‘til they and with you and me

And a black hole is created as the house of cards implodes

Sucking in liquidity from all around the globe

 

Borrow one and borrow all, they set the demon loose

A thousand poisoned pigeons are all coming home to roost