Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet. Be SURE to read the press release below noting how Silverstein via his poetry actually nailed the 2007 market.
Stagflation Redux?
When growth is fast and prices spike
The Fed gives int’rest rates a hike.
When economic numbers slump
The fed moves quick to prime the pump.
But now Bernanke’s brainy crew
Can only wonder what to do.
With oil pushing up inflation
Threatening to spawn stagnation
Theres fears an old abomination
Might reappear: the dread stagflation.
Copyright 2007 Michael Silverstein
SPECIAL NOTE: If you’ve been reading Silverstein’s poetry you’ve been ahead of the curve in knowing what was going to happen in the 2007 markets. We don’t usually post press releases but this one is justified due to how skillfully and seamlessly he has mixed creative poetic writing with serious info content:
Someone Got The 2007 Market Right — A Poet!
At the start of 2007 almost every Wall Street economist and most other high profile economic commentators were predicting another banner year for the stock market. One person thought otherwise, and this visionary voice in the prognosticating wilderness got it right in rhyme! He’s the Wall Street Poet: Michael Silverstein.
In poems with titles such as “The Great Stock Market Plunge,” “Father Dollar,” “The Last One Out the Door,” “Bernanke At The Bat,” “Stagflation Redux,” “The Problem With Economists,” and “Irrational Exuberance Anew² Silverstein described with great presicence what was going to happen with markets this year. In other poems such as ‘The Crude Brood,’ ‘Debt Rictus,’ and Overpay:A Real Estate Poem,” he predicted in rhyming fashion the reasons things would turn out as they have. In still other works such as “No Pain At The Top,” “Three Job Mama,” and The Screw Deal” he shone a poetic light on appalling market inequities. Poignant rhymes like “Cash, Cash Wonderful Cash,” meanwhile, directed wise investors to safe havens.
Silverstein even occasionally went beyond Wall Street to skewer sacred cows in the media and inside the Beltway with poems such as “The NPR Begging Chant,” and “The Faithful Old Retainer (A Dick Cheney Poem).”
A former senior editor with Bloomberg Financial News, Silverstein combines long years of market experience with something even more valuable: common sense. To this mix he adds a unique ability to put it all into satirical verse.
Silverstein’s market insights are collected in his latest book, Street Verse, available from Diane Publishing (800) 782-3833.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.