MisGivings
(on Bush's efforts to talk up the stock market)
How reassuring that our valiant chief
Has given warning to each corporate thief:
The president is "outraged", "mad as hell",
Though his insider trades have served him well,
While Kenny Boy, his friend, remains at large
Who slew his minions as his funds enlarged,
And Cheney proves the president in vice
Who cooked the books, manipulating price.
Like most corruption, ours starts at the top
And scapegoats down, and still our markets drop.
The palliative Bush gave will not amend:
To make new agencies and spend, spend, spend.
His actions speak softer than words, his words
Softer than indices that fell one-third.
Regard how the impotent potentate
Offers token reform, and that too late.
Some are born great, on some is greatness thrust,
But Bush achieves smallness and broken trust.
Small wonder, when the weak-willed SEC
Is weakly led by a Bush appointee
Who for his clients earned the lobbyist's fee:
The crooks in the accounting industry.
The SEC, created as a watchdog,
Its bark worse than its bite, is now a lapdog.
So we have learned what once we did suspect:
Our leader's virtue is rarely erect.
Failing to make the requisite uptick,
The little Bush but wields a little stick.
July 2002
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