The Never-Ending Tea Party
Welcome to an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ take on the economy…
More of a nightmare
Than a dream
For things really ARE
As bad as they seem…
Falling
Falling
Falling
Down the rabbit hole
The economy goes
Into a bottomless pit
At first it slows and stalls
And then it freefalls -
Into darkness
The darkness grows
No glimmer of light
No rope in sight
A recession
Spinning
And spiralling
Into
Depression
Tick tock
Tick tock
The debt time bomb
Ticks
And tocks - counting
( And the US debt clock drops
Off its wall mounting
- far too small
For a debt so big )
Tax payer’s money appears
Then magically disappears
Where has all our money gone ?
- we curiously ask
And what huge jaw-dropping sums !
And all to avoid bank runs !
Crumbs !!!
What a farce !
What nonsense have we here…
Lending reversed !!!
Taxpayers lending to banks - it’s a first !
Bank chiefs with cheshire fat cat grins
Are licking up the cream with a greedy thirst
Licking their bowls clean until they gleam
Then metamorphing
Into fat pigs
Their snouts in the
Treasury trough truffling
And scoffing
And having a ball
While squeezing homeowners
Out of their homes
And squashing companies
Both big and small
By not lending loans at all
Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday
Borrow more than you can afford
To pay for yesterday, tomorrow and today
Hitching a ride
On the house price rise
But then it slips
And slides
A pack of cards
Precariously stacked
And securitized
- Sliced and diced
Packages bound
And rebound
Inside a maze of complexity
No way out to be found -
Tumbling, crumbling
To the ground
Then Mad Hatter tea parties hosted
At snow and ice covered Davos posted
Made up of heads of state
( the dormant dormice )
Business leaders, hedgies, bankers and brokers
( the Mad Hatter jokers )
For tea and canapés
And to debate new ways
To thaw out the credit freeze
Off with their heads !
Off with their heads !
Come shouts from the public gallery
Demonstrators and MP’s
As former bank bosses are led
Into a ‘live’ Court of Evidence
Before the Treasury Select Committee
Billed to be grilled
Over their mistakes and banks’ losses
Recklessly risky deals - why oh why ?
Gambling stakes so high
Guilty for stealing bonus-filled tarts
Yet instead of jail terms
They are set to earn
- in their bailed out terms -
Jam-filled pension pots
While the economy rots
Even the Prime Minister
Is summoned to the stand
To help us understand
What went wrong and why
But it’s too late
To call the debate
The credit crunch won’t wait
Its bite is strong
Mercilessly swallowing its victims
While banks swallow up each other
Up and down
Boom and bust
Who CAN we trust ?
http://authorsden.com/janeair
Written out of anger 3 Feb 09
Visuals May 09
http://www.cyber-verse.co.uk/aliceinwonderland/
Illustrated version
Background notes to the poem:
The title for this poem has changed since I first wrote this poem. I feel that this new title has a more overall relevance and isn't just intended for the tea parties that the senior bankers have been having at the taxpayer's expense, but also that of our MP's.
