Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet:
The strength of a nation’s currency is a barometer of how the world views that nation’s economy. The U.S. dollar has been falling like a stone in recent months. Does that tell you something?
Father Dollar
“You grow weak, Father Dollar,” the trader said,
“And now sag ‘gainst euro and yen;
Perhaps I’ll seek elsewhere for safety instead,
Then come back, though there’s no telling when.”
“What’s all this,” Father Dollar cried out in deep shock?
“How you loved me in recent times past;
You’d buy all my bonds and collect all my stock,
I felt sure it was destined to last.”
“That was then,” shrugged the trader, “we live in today,
Your current account is a mess;
Your people will not their consumption delay,
Why should we pay ’cause they won’t spend less?”
“Don’t be cruel,” pled the Dollar, “why can’t you be nice?
You know in my day I was kind.
I squeezed with a smile, and gave free advice,
Be a sport: help me ride out this bind.”
Copyright 2007 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.