Passing the Bucks

For those who like a slugfest brawl
I guess that Tuesday night’s debate
Was best of those to yet befall
Contenders prone to underrate
Specifics on the deficits—
Barack’s restraint as well as Mitt‘s.

Whoever wins, though, has to face
Within the next two months the choice
Of letting Washington disgrace
Its jumbled self, or else rejoice
In finding middle ground as if
It wants to skirt a fiscal cliff.

As Baby Boomers give up work
And start collecting SS checks,
More Medicare disbursements lurk
With budget-menacing effects.
Combined they represent a third
Of outlays Uncle Sam’s incurred.

Republicans and Democrats,
To fend off arbitrary cuts,
In coming weeks must end their spats
Or face what both should think is nuts:
The so-called sequestration hacks
That take discretion off their backs.

A hundred billion dollars stripped
Each year, half from the Pentagon,
And tax breaks for most people snipped,
A recipe to frown upon
For served-up-cold austerity,
Recession not prosperity.