Here’s a special new year’s wishes list by TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet.
2008 New Year’s Wishes
by Michael Silverstein
1. May your end year tax planning not include a sepuku option.
2. May you never again have to listen to a Washington official say the economy is fundamentally sound.
3. May this country’s bankers come forward to announce they’re lobbying to make interest in excess of 12 percent criminal usury.
4. May all those who still believe our Iraq adventure has been worthwhile be obliged to retire there.
5. May all the money raised by candidates running for president in 2008 be used to reduce the national debt rather than spent on TV ads.
6. May 2008 be the year everyone gives friends and family cash for Christmas instead of gift cards.
7. May arts grants be restructured so they go to artists rather than artist helpers.
8. May the term “poor man’s friend” no longer be considered a bad joke in political circles.
9. May the pay scale of Federal Reserve governors be linked to changes in Florida real estate values.
10. May a herculean laundering somehow manage to cleanse the Augean stables left behind by the Bush Administration.
Poet’s Note: Silverstein’s verse was a page one feature in the December 24, 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal Online.
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.