"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

 

In recent months we’ve run several poems in praise of that most bedrock of assets—cash. We’ve also parodied some work by Rudyard Kipling. This week we combine these approaches in a financial verse titled "Ready Cash," which employs the verse structure of Kipling’s immortal "Gunga Din."

Ready Cash

You may talk of stocks and bonds
When they act like magic wands
And to rake it in you only have to play;
But when the markets tumble
You’ll talk a lot more humble
‘Cause in trading slumps there’s always hell to pay.
It’s in these disturbing times
That a certain asset shines
An asset scorned when you were puffed and brash;
Though for pros it’s much too tame
You’ll embrace it without shame
When the going's rough, you’ll want that ready cash.

For it’s cash, cash, cash,
That sees you through a crash.
Your best friend in a downturn’s ready cash.

I kept some in a drawer
And underneath the floor
Then forgot about it while the market soared.
Each day old highs were bested
My faith was never tested
I made my nut and then queued up for more.
In paper wealth I basked
Will it last? I never asked.
I assigned all scary headlines to the trash.
Then the reckoning arrived
And the way that I survived
Was by tapping my nice stash of hidden cash.

For it’s cash, cash, cash,
That sees you through a crash.
Though in high times you ignore it
When a crunch comes you’ll adore it.
It’s the mother’s milk of assets, ready cash.

*********

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