Dan Speers
Citizen Poet
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 Budget, Smudgit, Fudgit

 

April Fool’s Budget

 

The pundits have rendered judgment

    On the GOP’s “April Fools” budget

And to the party’s detriment

    What’s been tried, they forget

Ignoring all the mistakes they have made:

    A 1.5-milion dollar tax break

For CEOs; an end to Cap and Trade:

    Permanent tax cuts with an inside fake

That sets different rates to ease the pain.

    Want to guess which rate the rich'll choose to pay?

You want to try trickle down yet again?

    Forget April Fools Day. It’s Ground Hog Day.

 

 

Have They No Cents?

How the GOP Pogged Us

 

The Dem view:

  Those up-tight, wedgie-necked Republicans,

  They are the Party of NO, say the Dems,

  Nay-saying dyed-in-the-wool partisans

  What’s opposing Mr. O on a whim.

 

The GOP/POG view:

  We are not the Grand Obstruction Party

  We don’t cloak votes in patriotic fog.

  So to prove we’re not backwards, why don't we

  Reverse G-O-P? Make our new name POG.

 

The Cable News view:

  Did the POGs say, Yes, did the POGs say, No?

  Did the POGs say how they will vote today?

  Who’ll tell Americans which way to go?

  We need Dem-POG dialog straight away.

 

The Public view.

  With gall and guile, the POG’s budget boast,

  Was revealed with words--but no numbers logged.

  No hard facts. No details. No news to post.

  Nonsense. No numbers. No cents. We’ve been pogged.

 

 

Written March 26, 2009 on news that the GOP called a news conference to reveal their budget plan but instead revealved a plan to reveal a budget on April 1, 2009. In France, April Fool's Day is known as April Fish Day. Whether or not there is something fishy about all this (in the immortal words of CNN) only time will tell. As to POGs, consider this:

 

POG - Poetry in Action

 

POG, a federally-recognized non-profit corporation--is a collective of poets, literary critics, and practitioners of other art forms who have joined together in Tucson to offer public programming, and other related events, which will promote active appreciation of and engagement with avant-garde artistic work in a variety of media, especially poetry and multi-disciplinary art. [Quoted from their website.]

 

POG - Irony in Action

Other POGS to consider: A drink, a 1990s fad game with a piece called a Pog, and one of two title characters in Pib and Pog, an animated short film. In the marines, a POG represents Personnel Other than Grunts, and commercially, retail store chains use POGs (Plan-O-Grams) to lay out fixtures and product placements. Once an item has been placed on a shelf, it's been "pogged." Stockers are sometimes referred to as "Poggers."

 

 

You've read the poem, now read the story

 

GOP Unveils April Fools Day Budget Plan

 

WASHINGTON--House Republicans would give the richest Americans a choice between two income tax rates, 25 or 35 percent, according to details of their budget alternative released Wednesday, although the plan only used the higher income tax level to calculate their budget numbers. 

  In addition, the GOP budget proposal would permanently extend the2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy which are set to expire over the next two years.

  Aiming to freeze federal government funding at fiscal year 2009 levels for five years, the Republicans proposed “a better budget solution that curbs spending, creates jobs, cuts taxes, and controls the debt," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday.

  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs would see a reductions in spending, while spending for most other federal agencies would be frozen at 2009 levels for five years. Only national defense and veteran’s benefits would see increases in spending.

  The Republicans also denied any funding for  the Cap-and-Trade system aimed at combat ting global warming which is a central plank of Obama's domestic agenda. As an alternative, they have proposed expanding oil drilling operations, opening up more areas for domestic exploration and using these fees to pay for funding for alternative energy sources.

 

  The GOP plan calls for $3.28 trillion; the Democratic plan, $3.53 trillion and forecasts a budget deficit of $1.7 trillion in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30,

  The deputy director of the White House Budget Office, Rob Nabors, dismissed the Republican plan during a conference call with reporters where he said, "It just doesn't make any legislative sense, and I would think that it's a bit of a gimmick.”