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Showing posts with label Feb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Feb. Show all posts

Monday, February 01, 2010

Deficits and Treasure [Today's News Poem, Feb 1, 2010]

Deficits and Treasure

By Khakjaan Wessington

“The budget plan, which would take effect when fiscal year 2011 begins on October 1, projects a record fiscal deficit of $1.56 trillion this year but predicts the red ink will subside to $1.27 trillion in 2011 and half that in 2012.”

-Reuters, Feb 1, 2010, 11:06am EST

The Aeolipile, a brazier bearing double spouts,
Was iron, brass—from base components nonetheless—
Yet treasure. Forth through craft came value's early sprouts;

With paint worth more than gold, with books worth more than gems.
The guilds and foreigners kept secrets they'd not fess,
Thus trade became the way that profit came to stem

Beyond the limits local markets used to bear—
Demand, supply, material and state constraints—
With earnings, came the study we call laissez-faire.

With maths and science, facts and theories—press as well—
Economies could trade without a gold restraint.
So value now is separate from specie's spell.

A deficit is bridged with press—already done
To save the banks. Deposits made can grow by ten
Their lendable reserves. They speculate: it's spun

As finding value—true sometimes, but why can't you
Or I receive financial terms like that? It's when
The deficit accrues and banks receive the screw,

They scream inflation stands to cut their margins down:
They get the loot, while costs go up in every town.

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