(usdebtclock.org)‘Promises Made, Promises Kept… Give Me a Break!’ and Other Poetry by Mark Stellinga The Society July 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Promises Made, Promises Kept… Give Me a Break! We know, because they promise us their virtuous intent when allocating funds is always currency well spent That supersedes all arguments of basic common sense— despite the fact the cost accrued for every buck they print Adds, of course, another layer of debt to what, today, stands at what, without a doubt, regardless what they say, Guarantees our kids will fail to ever find a way to cover just the interest on a bill they’ll never pay And virtually every cause they swear they need our money for, every dime for which they so persistently implore, Will, of course, improve our lives and win our fiscal war until they reappropriate—then plunder billions more! . . A Questionable Campaign Decision Jasmine Orthepedic was a young attractive woman the afternoon she graduated, back in ‘63, But when I saw her running for the mayor of Cincinnati, as Jeremiah Oglethorp, the fact occurred to me That, only twenty years ago, this very human being was actually crowned the queen—not king-–of Piccadilly High… And I began to wonder, if my eyes had not deceived me, what the cause might be for her to change from girl to guy! She’d dated half the guys I knew, and had a reputation for just how easy gettin’ a chance at sleepin’ with her was! It must have been genetic, I had promptly ascertained, ‘cause changin’ sex ain’t somethin’ that a prudent person does! I thought about it long and hard, pretty well convinced the person in the advertisement was, despite the name, Actually Orthepedic, who—being a clever girl— had fixed it so her first and last initials stayed the same! But now that he possesses what he feels will make it easier to one day reach his goal of giving politics a whirl, I’ll be voting otherwise, regardless his opponent, ‘cause I believe he should have run for office… as a girl! .. . Mark Stellinga is a poet and antiques dealer residing in Iowa. He has often won the annual adult-division poetry contests sponsored by the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop, has had many pieces posted in several magazines and sites over the past 60 years, including Poem-Hunter.com, PoetrySoup.com, and Able Muse.com—where he won the 1st place prize for both ‘best poem’ of the year and ‘best book of verse.’ NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Trending now: 19 Responses Roy Eugene Peterson July 9, 2024 Those are two excellent poems condemning the condemnable. Balancing the budget never seems to occur to politicians and particularly not paying down the national debt. After all (I say tongue in cheek) how many votes would that garner compared to profligate spending? The whole sex change thing is becoming an epidemic and has seeped into political persuasions and leadership roles for those with highly questionable values that have a leftist agenda. I am heartened by these two poems of clarity and incisive messages. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 We’re on the same ugly page, Roy, and leaning as far right as I do, one of my favorite subject matters is corrupt politics. These perps are definitely not uninformed, their corrupt as hell, and most are eagerly reimbursing their donors, many worried for their family’s safety. There are several similar pieces in my new digital book, while a few are a tad too spicy for sharing on the SCP. Thanks for your comment – Reply Lannie David Brockstein July 9, 2024 Mark, the speaker in your “A Questionable Campaign Decision” poem might be surprised to know that the gender change industry is already well on its way to being a moneymaker for Big Pharma, according to these business reports: ~~~~~ Yahoo! Finance and The Insight Partners (October 19th, 2023) – “Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Worth $6.26 Billion by 2030 – Exclusive Report by The Insight Partners”: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sex-reassignment-surgery-market-worth-102900490.html and Polaris Market Research (January 2024) – “Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Gender Transition (Female to Male, Male to Female); By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2024- 2032”: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/sex-reassignment-surgery-market#:~:text=The%20global%20sex%20reassignment%20surgery,various%20gender%2Daffirming%20surgical%20procedures. ~~~~~ Mark, the speaker in your poem might also be surprised to know that as mainstream media did not report, until recently, that Joe Biden is demented and thus that he has been demented for years, so too has the mainstream media yet to report that Big Pharma formed its gender change industry by performing forced experiments on the homosexual prisoners in Muslim supremacist Iran, the same way that it formed its organ change industry by performing forced experiments on the Falun Gong prisoners in Left supremacist China. In reality, Big Pharma’s approach to medicine hasn’t changed since the Holocaust, when it performed forced experiments on the Jewish prisoners in White supremacist Germany. Thank you Mark, for your poem having helped to shine a light on the evil that is Big Pharma. From Lannie. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Lannie, thank you for enlightening me concerning the forced experimenting on prisoners! Regardless what profits are being realized, all those involved in anyway whatsoever should be imprisoned themselves. And we believe Obama coordinated the installation of Biden in the White House knowing just how demented and corrupt ALL the Bidens are, particularly Joe. Reply C.B. Anderson July 9, 2024 My greatest fear, Mark, is not that what you say might be true, but that things might actually be a lot worse than you let on. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 We both know, C. B., that things ARE much worse than I opine. 🙁 Unless you convert a ‘thief’ at the age of 4 or 5, whatever he or she steals will likely not be the last time they succumb to the symptom. Having been a sticky-fingered 8-year-old myself, it was inherently easy for me to excel at my duty as a shoplifter-stopper when I was in my early 20s. I got to where I could typically spot a *gonna-try-to-steal-something* culprit when they entered the store. As amazingly bad as it is in D.C., it’s important we understand that we see but a fraction of political corruption. Despite his social flaws, Trump, if they don’t assassinate him before he gets the chance, will at least put a dent in their armor. Reply C.B. Anderson July 10, 2024 Exactimundo! Adam Wasem July 9, 2024 Mark, I greatly appreciate you, in “Promises Made, Promises Kept…” addressing what has been for years my greatest fear, our runaway and absolutely unpayable national debt, by skillfully diagramming the awful political mechanisms by which the problem is inevitably perpetuated. What especially stings, for me, is my awareness, through my study of economics and economic history, that the US dollar has passed the “point of no return,” as a currency, as shown in Evan’s apt inclusion of a USdebtclock.org still above. I.E., barring truly extraordinary circumstances, no fiat currency in history has ever recovered from a debt-to-gdp ratio greater than 105%, for reasons having to do with debt service versus financial promises made to the citizens. Either the government defaults outright, or it defaults through hyperinflating its own currency, or the citizens revolt and overthrow the government, or some combination of all three. As you can see in the still, the debt-to-gdp for the dollar is (officially) at 122%: Game over. The only question for the dollar now is how soon will we start to see the Weimar-era pictures of wheelbarrows of currency for trips to the grocery store. So, yes, unfortunately, C.B., the situation is not only a lot worse, it’s as bad as you can imagine for the dollar. Prepare accordingly. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 I appreciate your myriad of facts concerning the country’s disasterous financial dilemma, Adam, and am extremely worried about what is best to do with my wife and I’s nest egg. CDs, or at home – in the vault. Thank you for your very enlightening comment – I’ll likely submit a couple other pieces of this political sort that seem tame enough for the SCP, even a few that appear in the “Cultural” chapter of my new digital manuscript offered on upper right side of this page. Reply Adam Wasem July 10, 2024 I share that worry, Mark. Personally, I couldn’t bring myself to trust in the CDs of a banking/political cabal that has shown itself more than willing to throw the taxpayer/depositor/shareholder under the bus, time and time again, in order to bail out the bankers. When the money for bailouts runs out because our creditors finally balk at throwing more good $trillions after bad, that’s when the “bail-ins” will begin, including customer deposits, CDs, safety deposit boxes–you name it, the banks will seize it. And the courts will sanction any and all theft from their customers to make the banksters whole. I’m personally of the belief that the time is rapidly approaching when “If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.” Further, beyond the usual advice to stockpile the “three G’s,” (Gold, Guns, and Grub) I think the time is rapidly approaching when the most important resource you can garner is a high-trust local community of like-minded neighbors, with whom you can band together for mutual defense. C.B. Anderson July 10, 2024 Yeah, Adam, as if I had the slightest clue about how to prepare for something I can’t understand. May God bless you. Reply Adam Wasem July 10, 2024 You don’t have to understand, because, trust me, I do. And I’m not being flippant. The dollar will revert to its inherent value, which is zero. It is a mathematical certainty at this point. Exchange your soon-to-be-worthless paper dollars for hard assets: Precious metals, farmland, productive real estate, possibly stock in companies making things people are certain to need in a crisis. God has blessed us all here with our manifold talents and abilities to help each other with. One of mine just so happens to be that of economics and economic history, owing to my father and grandfather both being businessmen, and my having closely followed finance for nearly two decades now Margaret Coats July 10, 2024 Mark, your poem on “Promises” is welcome, simply because we all know of fiscal insanity (it’s far beyond irresponsibility), and expression of our knowledge provides a little consolation to the powerless. Quatrains running over their ends to form one undiagrammable sentence is a good way to imply inevitability of downward disaster as the process continues. Adam Wasem’s comment, like Evan Mantyk’s choice of illustration, demonstrate your poetic point in stark figures. We seem to be approaching the point of outright default and revolt. In England in the Middle Ages, the king chose to avoid revolt by defaulting on Florentine bankers. The banks failed, and that was just the beginning of centuries of gradual financial collapse in Italy. The holders of our debt are unlikely to be so accommodating. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Margaret, thank you so much for your encouraging comment. Though it does predict impending financial disaster, I thoroughly agree with your and Adam’s prognosis. We’re no longer making large deposits, worried, under this administration, what might happen to our nest egg. Reply Brian A. Yapko July 10, 2024 Two strong social/political zingers, Mark. Both of these are observent, well-written and thought-provoking. “Campaign Decision” is particularly apropos these days — how are we to trust — let alone applaus — political leaders who are clearly impaired whether psychiatrically or through dementia? Sanity matters. Reply Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Hi Brian, ‘political leaders who are clearly impaired whether psychiatrically or through dementia’ or are corrupt as hell are now so deeply embedded in D. C. & most every state government I see no way to correct the ship. At least with Trump, the bulk of his record over the 4 years he had to prove himself -presidentially – as a ‘far-better-than-ANY-Democrat, there is still hope for some very significant improvements. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant July 11, 2024 Mark, you manage to capture the essence of our mind-blowing era in these two poems that spell out exactly where we’re at. The lines that send chills are these: “… Guarantees our kids will fail to ever find a way / to cover just the interest on a bill they’ll never pay” – what have we done?! I’m listening to Adam Wasem. I think his observations are spot on, sadly. At this very moment the world is rushing to reduce dependency on the U.S. Dollar – this should be a huge and worrying clue as to where we are heading financially. Mark, thank you! Reply Mark Stellinga July 11, 2024 I’m with you & Adam, Susan. Connie and I, for quite some time, have been drawing out substantial sums and demanding cash rather than depositing funds from our antiques sales. We even bought a serious vault! If the ‘dollar’ does go deep south, all but the A-Holes that made, not *let*, it happen will be fine, but me an’ the boss ‘ll be boogered big time! Check out my new SCP book ad & its link to a full description – & thanks for your kind comment – Reply Adam Wasem July 11, 2024 God bless you both. I don’t care if I’m written off as a lunatic, if I can save just one person from the coming tsunami, it will be worth it. As Hemingway’s Mike Campbell, in “The Sun Also Rises, explains when asked about how he went bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.” The dollar’s “Suddenly” could potentially happen over a weekend. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Roy Eugene Peterson July 9, 2024 Those are two excellent poems condemning the condemnable. Balancing the budget never seems to occur to politicians and particularly not paying down the national debt. After all (I say tongue in cheek) how many votes would that garner compared to profligate spending? The whole sex change thing is becoming an epidemic and has seeped into political persuasions and leadership roles for those with highly questionable values that have a leftist agenda. I am heartened by these two poems of clarity and incisive messages. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 We’re on the same ugly page, Roy, and leaning as far right as I do, one of my favorite subject matters is corrupt politics. These perps are definitely not uninformed, their corrupt as hell, and most are eagerly reimbursing their donors, many worried for their family’s safety. There are several similar pieces in my new digital book, while a few are a tad too spicy for sharing on the SCP. Thanks for your comment – Reply
Lannie David Brockstein July 9, 2024 Mark, the speaker in your “A Questionable Campaign Decision” poem might be surprised to know that the gender change industry is already well on its way to being a moneymaker for Big Pharma, according to these business reports: ~~~~~ Yahoo! Finance and The Insight Partners (October 19th, 2023) – “Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Worth $6.26 Billion by 2030 – Exclusive Report by The Insight Partners”: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sex-reassignment-surgery-market-worth-102900490.html and Polaris Market Research (January 2024) – “Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Gender Transition (Female to Male, Male to Female); By End-Use; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2024- 2032”: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/sex-reassignment-surgery-market#:~:text=The%20global%20sex%20reassignment%20surgery,various%20gender%2Daffirming%20surgical%20procedures. ~~~~~ Mark, the speaker in your poem might also be surprised to know that as mainstream media did not report, until recently, that Joe Biden is demented and thus that he has been demented for years, so too has the mainstream media yet to report that Big Pharma formed its gender change industry by performing forced experiments on the homosexual prisoners in Muslim supremacist Iran, the same way that it formed its organ change industry by performing forced experiments on the Falun Gong prisoners in Left supremacist China. In reality, Big Pharma’s approach to medicine hasn’t changed since the Holocaust, when it performed forced experiments on the Jewish prisoners in White supremacist Germany. Thank you Mark, for your poem having helped to shine a light on the evil that is Big Pharma. From Lannie. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Lannie, thank you for enlightening me concerning the forced experimenting on prisoners! Regardless what profits are being realized, all those involved in anyway whatsoever should be imprisoned themselves. And we believe Obama coordinated the installation of Biden in the White House knowing just how demented and corrupt ALL the Bidens are, particularly Joe. Reply
C.B. Anderson July 9, 2024 My greatest fear, Mark, is not that what you say might be true, but that things might actually be a lot worse than you let on. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 We both know, C. B., that things ARE much worse than I opine. 🙁 Unless you convert a ‘thief’ at the age of 4 or 5, whatever he or she steals will likely not be the last time they succumb to the symptom. Having been a sticky-fingered 8-year-old myself, it was inherently easy for me to excel at my duty as a shoplifter-stopper when I was in my early 20s. I got to where I could typically spot a *gonna-try-to-steal-something* culprit when they entered the store. As amazingly bad as it is in D.C., it’s important we understand that we see but a fraction of political corruption. Despite his social flaws, Trump, if they don’t assassinate him before he gets the chance, will at least put a dent in their armor. Reply
Adam Wasem July 9, 2024 Mark, I greatly appreciate you, in “Promises Made, Promises Kept…” addressing what has been for years my greatest fear, our runaway and absolutely unpayable national debt, by skillfully diagramming the awful political mechanisms by which the problem is inevitably perpetuated. What especially stings, for me, is my awareness, through my study of economics and economic history, that the US dollar has passed the “point of no return,” as a currency, as shown in Evan’s apt inclusion of a USdebtclock.org still above. I.E., barring truly extraordinary circumstances, no fiat currency in history has ever recovered from a debt-to-gdp ratio greater than 105%, for reasons having to do with debt service versus financial promises made to the citizens. Either the government defaults outright, or it defaults through hyperinflating its own currency, or the citizens revolt and overthrow the government, or some combination of all three. As you can see in the still, the debt-to-gdp for the dollar is (officially) at 122%: Game over. The only question for the dollar now is how soon will we start to see the Weimar-era pictures of wheelbarrows of currency for trips to the grocery store. So, yes, unfortunately, C.B., the situation is not only a lot worse, it’s as bad as you can imagine for the dollar. Prepare accordingly. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 I appreciate your myriad of facts concerning the country’s disasterous financial dilemma, Adam, and am extremely worried about what is best to do with my wife and I’s nest egg. CDs, or at home – in the vault. Thank you for your very enlightening comment – I’ll likely submit a couple other pieces of this political sort that seem tame enough for the SCP, even a few that appear in the “Cultural” chapter of my new digital manuscript offered on upper right side of this page. Reply
Adam Wasem July 10, 2024 I share that worry, Mark. Personally, I couldn’t bring myself to trust in the CDs of a banking/political cabal that has shown itself more than willing to throw the taxpayer/depositor/shareholder under the bus, time and time again, in order to bail out the bankers. When the money for bailouts runs out because our creditors finally balk at throwing more good $trillions after bad, that’s when the “bail-ins” will begin, including customer deposits, CDs, safety deposit boxes–you name it, the banks will seize it. And the courts will sanction any and all theft from their customers to make the banksters whole. I’m personally of the belief that the time is rapidly approaching when “If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.” Further, beyond the usual advice to stockpile the “three G’s,” (Gold, Guns, and Grub) I think the time is rapidly approaching when the most important resource you can garner is a high-trust local community of like-minded neighbors, with whom you can band together for mutual defense.
C.B. Anderson July 10, 2024 Yeah, Adam, as if I had the slightest clue about how to prepare for something I can’t understand. May God bless you. Reply
Adam Wasem July 10, 2024 You don’t have to understand, because, trust me, I do. And I’m not being flippant. The dollar will revert to its inherent value, which is zero. It is a mathematical certainty at this point. Exchange your soon-to-be-worthless paper dollars for hard assets: Precious metals, farmland, productive real estate, possibly stock in companies making things people are certain to need in a crisis. God has blessed us all here with our manifold talents and abilities to help each other with. One of mine just so happens to be that of economics and economic history, owing to my father and grandfather both being businessmen, and my having closely followed finance for nearly two decades now
Margaret Coats July 10, 2024 Mark, your poem on “Promises” is welcome, simply because we all know of fiscal insanity (it’s far beyond irresponsibility), and expression of our knowledge provides a little consolation to the powerless. Quatrains running over their ends to form one undiagrammable sentence is a good way to imply inevitability of downward disaster as the process continues. Adam Wasem’s comment, like Evan Mantyk’s choice of illustration, demonstrate your poetic point in stark figures. We seem to be approaching the point of outright default and revolt. In England in the Middle Ages, the king chose to avoid revolt by defaulting on Florentine bankers. The banks failed, and that was just the beginning of centuries of gradual financial collapse in Italy. The holders of our debt are unlikely to be so accommodating. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Margaret, thank you so much for your encouraging comment. Though it does predict impending financial disaster, I thoroughly agree with your and Adam’s prognosis. We’re no longer making large deposits, worried, under this administration, what might happen to our nest egg. Reply
Brian A. Yapko July 10, 2024 Two strong social/political zingers, Mark. Both of these are observent, well-written and thought-provoking. “Campaign Decision” is particularly apropos these days — how are we to trust — let alone applaus — political leaders who are clearly impaired whether psychiatrically or through dementia? Sanity matters. Reply
Mark Stellinga July 10, 2024 Hi Brian, ‘political leaders who are clearly impaired whether psychiatrically or through dementia’ or are corrupt as hell are now so deeply embedded in D. C. & most every state government I see no way to correct the ship. At least with Trump, the bulk of his record over the 4 years he had to prove himself -presidentially – as a ‘far-better-than-ANY-Democrat, there is still hope for some very significant improvements. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant July 11, 2024 Mark, you manage to capture the essence of our mind-blowing era in these two poems that spell out exactly where we’re at. The lines that send chills are these: “… Guarantees our kids will fail to ever find a way / to cover just the interest on a bill they’ll never pay” – what have we done?! I’m listening to Adam Wasem. I think his observations are spot on, sadly. At this very moment the world is rushing to reduce dependency on the U.S. Dollar – this should be a huge and worrying clue as to where we are heading financially. Mark, thank you! Reply
Mark Stellinga July 11, 2024 I’m with you & Adam, Susan. Connie and I, for quite some time, have been drawing out substantial sums and demanding cash rather than depositing funds from our antiques sales. We even bought a serious vault! If the ‘dollar’ does go deep south, all but the A-Holes that made, not *let*, it happen will be fine, but me an’ the boss ‘ll be boogered big time! Check out my new SCP book ad & its link to a full description – & thanks for your kind comment – Reply
Adam Wasem July 11, 2024 God bless you both. I don’t care if I’m written off as a lunatic, if I can save just one person from the coming tsunami, it will be worth it. As Hemingway’s Mike Campbell, in “The Sun Also Rises, explains when asked about how he went bankrupt: “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.” The dollar’s “Suddenly” could potentially happen over a weekend.
