Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet:
Republicans have always pushed for lower taxes but shied away from the obvious corollary, abolishing taxes altogether, from fear of being labeled crackpots. At a time when the Fed is handing out billions to banks via auctions and reducing interest rates virtually on a weekly basis, however, and the Congress is planning to give money away to anyone who will take it, no economic nostrum should be viewed as too crazy to try. With this in mind, the following “Tax-Free Nation Poem” is offered to a public that is clearly willing to consider anything in lieu of facing up to the consequences of its past economic excesses and transgressions.
The Tax-Free Nation Poem
Ollie Wendell Holmes once said’
Bout taxes in this nation,
They are the price we gotta pay
To have civilization.
But recently I’m thinking
That this rule we should relax,
‘Cause I’d rather not be civilized
Then pay an income tax.
The money sinks of public ed,
The vet and welfare rolls,
The subsidies for geezer health,
Who needs these wasteful doles?
Our streets would have no pot holes
If we made them all toll roads,
Stock markets would go through the roof
Without dull legal codes.
To keep our armies solvent
We could send our soldiers plundering;
No revenue means Congress
Won’t in spending realms be blundering.
Who needs a tax-based commonwealth?
For too long we’ve been scammed.
We’ll each care for the things we like,
All other things be damned!
Copyright 2008 Michael Silverstein
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.