by Aaron Gillego
O, that this too too "solid" economy would melt
Slow into recession because of the Dow!
Or that the Federal Reserve had not fix'd
Your rates 'gainst bad mortgages! O Bush! W!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the credit of this world!
Fix it! Ah fix! 'Tis an unregulated market
That's to blame for this: the rank and file in Wall Street
Possess bad debts. That it should come to this!
But two banks dead: nay, not so much, not two:
So excellent a bailout that was given
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; yet so unkind to Merrill Lynch
That it almost faced bankruptcy without Bank of America
buying its stocks too cheaply. Savings and Loan!
Must I remember? Why, that's what's happening,
Because inflationary spending has grown
By rates the Feds cut. And yet, within a month --
Let me not think on't -- McCain, thy name is woman! --
A little month, and the election will be held
And you want to postpone the debate with Obama?
Like Bush, all talk: -- Why even speak? --
O, Bush! A lame duck, that lacks discourse or reason,
You should have acted sooner—rescue by Uncle Sam
For Lehman Brothers, but no clue about
The cost to Taxpayers: Within the week:
Before any meaningful debate takes hold
And before anyone can eye and flesh out the bill
You want it passed. O, most wicked speed, to discuss
With both candidates the balance sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good:
But break my bank; for you must raise my taxes.
Aaron Gillego resides in Miami, FL, where he teaches high school English. He pursued his MFA in Poetry at the University of Miami. He has been published by The Advocate and has contributed three poems previously to The New Verse News.
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