The (Not-So-Great) Bailout Of 2008 Poem by Joseph DeMarco

Gather round children,
as I tell the tale,
Of how all the banks
started to fail.
About how the government
bailed out the rich,
Rather than the poor,
which would have been a switch.

People were greedy,
for something called cash,
Brokers on Wall Street had plenty,
so what they did seems rash.
And so they started
robbing regular people blind.
That's how America (and the World)
got into a bind.

The banks began approving loans for homes,
to anyone who might need.
The value would go up,
and you could re-mortgage indeed.
People started spending
what they never had.
The way money was their religion
was awfully sad.

People would spend thousands of dollars,
On luxury items and diamond rings,
While poor children went without
food, braces and things.
The world was on a bubble
about to break.
Still banks pushed loans and investments
with ratings that were fake.

The economy crashed
like a run away train.
Regular people watched as their savings
and retirement went down the drain.
The president and congress
fearing another crash,
put together
a bailout plan fast.

They reasoned, if we don't fix the economy
the whole ship will sink.
'You don't understand, ' they claimed
the world is on the brink.
And so the government taught future generations,
handing (the rich) a bone,
That's it's okay to spend
more than you own.