Empire

This song is simple, IMHO. It delineates how our country is turning to shit, yet we pump billions upon billions upon billions of dollars into other countries so that our oil companies can make their billions of dollars in net profit every quarter.

With our ridiculous expenditures on national "defense" and the neglect of our own law enforcement, gang activity, violent crime etc. is going to keep on increasing. My city, for example, is always voting for an increase in law enforcement funding, to combat the perpetually-increasing violent crime rate in this shithole. It is simply insufficient.

A guy I know abcsonded parole, and the FBI caught him on a train 2,000 miles away, and hauled him in. Where the fvck is the effort/resources to catch actual dangers to society? Police departments depend on frivolous citations and fines to pay their own salaries, that's it. They don't really care about real crime, unless something falls into their lap. Or they don't have the resources to fight it fully.

Also, I believe in the song they actually say 60.6 BILLION, not million.

If you add both 1986 and 1987 expenditures on Protection, minus fire, its 61.8 Billion total, federal, local and state. And the Federal Defense expenditures for those 2 years combined (minus Veterans benefits) is 43 times the Federal governments expenditure on Law enforcement.

By way of comparison, the US is currently spending $3000 a SECOND in Iraq.

Yeah I listened to this part several times and I am not 100% but probably about 99% sure they say 60.6 Billion in the song. That would make a lot more sense since 60.6 Million would just be ridiculous.

I'm fairly certain he's saying "A sixth of a percent", not "6 percent". He does pretty clearly say "billion" in stead of million, so the math all checks out.

So the only question left is "Can't you feel it coming?"

I agree with ThirdRevolution, pretty sure its "a sixth" and "billion."

I would like to add....

(Spoken) In fiscal year 1986-87, local, state, and federal governments spent a combined total of 60.6 million dollars on law enforcement. Federal law enforcement expenditures ranked last in absolute dollars, and accounted for only 6% of all federal spending. By way of comparison, the federal government spent $24 million more on space exploration, and 43 TIMES more on national defense and international relations than the law enforcement.

I know it may sound petty, but this song strikes a chord with me, not just with the musical dynamic, but with the implied message. I have had several friends join law enforcement straight out of high school with dreams of spreading justice and protecting the innocent, only to awaken to a harsh reality that the law enforcement is the red-headed stepchild of government funding, thereby limiting its effectiveness. Kind of disheartening, to say the least.

wonderful addition jules... that's not something you can just leave out of the song

and by the way, these guys are way underrated (fantastic writers and performers)

yah...i hate when people leave out parts of the song even though it might not be te actual singer singing. like the beginning of thos song it says : "Next message, saved saturday at 9:24 Pm - "sry i just, it started to hit me like a um...umm...2 ton heavy thing"

Here in Australia, in the late 1980's-early 90's, one particular suburb of Sydney was the drug/violence capital of Australia. This song reminds me that that suburb wasn't alone