We Owe It To Ourselves

It’s bad enough when MasterCard
And Visa call, and then lament
That they must tell us we are barred
From borrowing another cent.

But what if China rings us and
Apologetically bemoans
That we at last must understand
It cannot make us further loans?

Like any family that’s maxed out,
Our country needs a plan to cope
For when abundance turns to drought.
Initially, one offers hope.

Bipartisan-commission work
Suggests how we can slash our debt:
With higher taxes (wipe that smirk!)
And budget cuts not settled yet.

Like fighter craft that DOD
Rejects. The Congress, though, assents
If members wish the planes to be
Constructed by constituents.

Or subsidies for fallow fields
To keep the price of some crops high,
Which means we spend for shallow yields
While making groceries steep to buy.

Deductions from our income tax
For mortgages would shrink or fade
Like interest also got the ax
On credit cards, which Sam gets paid.

Earned-income breaks might bid adieu
Though I’ve no clue how they’re devised.
Some cost-of-living changes, too,
Though living costs have stabilized.

The biggest thought that comes to bear
Is: which taxpayers keep their cut?
Plus all of us, some billionaire?
Our wealth might ride on nothing but:

If earners in the top percentiles
Retain the breaks that George Bush passed,
The total that their cut compiles
Would void the schemes above amassed.

Great nations in the world assess
More taxes than the U.S.A.
We must as well, to clear our mess,
Or put our Number One in play.