The latest lemming run in Washington is a race to give out upwards of $145 billion to Americans in hopes of fending off a recession. It’s a rather amazing idea when you think about it. Aside from such obvious drawbacks as swelling the deficit and adding to inflation and trashing the dollar, does a government printing money overtime and handing it out to everyone with instructions to spend it anyway they like really strike you as sound fiscal policy? Or does it seem more like a desperate spasm of hapless governors and their incompetent advisors dispensing a kind of hospice economics—jollying up the rubes during an election year with a strong dose of monetary joy juice before the inevitable economic decline takes its inescapable, devastating toll?

Uncle Sam’s Money Tree

Who thought that we would ever see
Free money falling from a tree;

A tree that is a panic quest
To meet a daunting market test;

A won’drous tree by Congress built
To stop the economic wilt;

A tree whose present massive size
With each new day will likely rise;

A tree grown huge to bridge a chasm
A classic fear-based Beltway spasm;

Fools like me must toil and stint
But Uncle Sam need only print.

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©2008 Michael Silverstein