Some Reserv(ations) On The Fed

Audit of the Federal Reserve Bank 2011

The dissolution of sixteen trillion secrets

that assisted financial institutions inimical

to humanity, were exposed by another

society, our Federal Government,

equally corruptible.

        The mouths of both demons suppurate

and we the squawking children are fed

the worm of an apple to quell our ephemeral hunger

for legitimacy. Who will bail the working man

from out this sinking ship? Resolution of our

degradation is the emergency but our vote

is of no interest to them, for by rote

we waive our humanity to appease

 that fickle beast, Individuality,

whose only reserve is for greed,

setting aside only a pittance, paid

in lip service, for the common community  

of mankind.

Why aren’t we motivated by our misfortune?

Why do we just sit watching the idiot tube,

stuffing our faces with revolting, microwaveable food,

and awake each day to stretch our necks

for worthless checks again and again so they

may have us as they like: fattened on ignorance,

indolent, and carrying the weight

of sixteen trillion secrets?

Nicholas V. Miele
Aug 2011
originally read at PoemAlley August 23, 2011

___
The list of institutions that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit and are as follows...

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places

Source: http://www.unelected.org/audit-of-the-federal-reserve-reveals-16-trillion-in-secret-bailouts

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve(July 21st, 2011):
http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation

Life, Liberty, OR The Pursuit Of Happiness

III.

Crafted bliss in a mason jar


bubbles to the surface where its essence


dissolves into the sanguinity of the scene

 
before me at the pizza place:


The patrons are pole-axed


by Budweiser and trivia, by the amber menace


of the oven yawning as the timer ticks to zero


because nobody knows where lies Laos.


One girl shouts:


“Is that even a real place?”


Cheeriness fled me, replaced by the bitter of burnt garlic.


We fire our teachers and praise the wisdom of pizza


called “kicker”, and the Dream dies slowly.



Nicholas V. Miele, June 2011
originally read at PoemAlley August 2, 2011

The Beachead Wails


near a body of water where the beachhead wails

a casket empty save for the scales

an empty casket lies in state

where  lady liberty is no longer magistrate


Ever since a miscarriage of justice stalks the soul

and a stillborn blows in the winds

the magnolia, incarcerated in sidewalk pavement raised from a stitch

strains perplexed, and in the dire wake of fall rails against

the wires woven of the wrought iron fence.

The government doesn't speak for us,

separate yourself from the state,

their defaults are a heavy weight,

we're getting nowhere at this rate.

That's what the magnolia says.


Enzo Malagisi, August 13, 2011
original to the blog