Los Angeles Times, Business Section (9/10/08)
Never mind the war zone News; instead, talk
About Business—that’s what we’re best at, right?
Well, there seem to be cracks in need of caulk,
“Lender responds to data breach,” one bright
Headline reads. An entrepreneurial
Worker, it seems, sold two million data—
Such acts, of course, are not mercurial—
Market leads, it seems, generate good pay!
“Wachovia [that’s a bank] battens down
the hatches.” Forget the cliché—risky
Loans, it seems, surely fail. Don’t fret, weep, frown—
Those brash loans, despite the hype, seemed frisky
Risks. None, it seems, imagined price collapse
Could curdle mystic markets, infecting
With intractable disease—moral lapse,
Not merely economic—what abject,
Demonic Greed (our strongest Deity),
Has grabbed us, seized both throats and genitals?
But wait, there’s more, delicious, you’ll agree!
“Lenders to adopt code of conduct,“ quail
Before grim evidence, piously pledge
To stop bamboozling students, stop lying,
Stop bribing college counselors—allege
Fair play (banks born again!) to dodge dying!
The bottom line (that’s what we’re good at, right?)—
This Shining City on that Holy Hill,
Profoundly ill, consumed by moral blight,
Worships divine Greed—deity that kills.
(9/18/08)