"Nowadays, you can't turn on the TV without some talking head telling you about the economy. Yet, in a world overrun by 'analysts,' only one man has the guts, the brains, and, quite frankly, the poetry to put it all in perspective.That man is Michael Silverstein... Silverstein is a true intellectual." — Gersh Kuntzman, The New York Post

"Few people have found much to laugh about in the stock market this year. Michael Silverstein is the exception. The Bard of the Bourse can find humor in losing money, globalization and stock options." — USA Today

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About Silverstein's Verse

 

Limericks aren’t really poems. They’re a form of nonsense verse that originated as a party game. The guests knocked back a few bottles (or cases) of wine, and then proceeded to spout extemporaneous rhymes that followed a very basic aabba format—i.e. longer rhyming first, second and fifth lines, separated by shorter rhyming third and fourth lines.

Real poems or not, limericks are fun. And with that goal in mind, the five limericks that follow all have a common theme—wobbly currencies in a wobbling world currency market.

Crying For Argentina

The Argentine peso is sinking
To dollars it soon won’t be linking
This makes me feel bad
I think I’ve been had
My Brady bond holdings are shrinking.

*****

Life Amid The Ruble

The ruble is no longer sliding
On Putin’s coat tails it’s riding
But make no mistake
Its prospects ain’t great
While Russia’s great wealth stays in hiding.

*****

How Hath The Mighty Fallen

The dollar was once very mighty
Stacked up against currencies flighty
Then there came a day
It looked kind of fey
And the traders all said ‘nighty-nighty.’

*****

And Unfulfilled Yen

If growth came from government spending
Japan’s long travails would be ending
Alas it ain’t so
And those in the know
Think the yen’s quite a ways from a’mending.

*****

The Brave Little Euro That Couldn’t

There once was some money called euro
The pundits predicted would soar-o
But though they did bray
At the end of the day
The folks who bought in are now poor-o.

*****

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