Don't Look Down

On the Paul Krugman board a quidley gives a cartoon analogy to the US current financial mess.

On the subject of economics metaphors and creative destruction, as a non-economist, I've been toying with a series of metaphors for our situation based on what I've read on Prof. Krugman's blog site:

Risky consumers = Wile E. Coyote.

Neocons & supporting corporate culture = The Acme Company

Economic prosperity / capitalist success in the view of Coyote & Acme = Road Runner

Deregulation of known good economic practices = Acme's product line

Bear Sterns, Carlyle Group, etc. = woodsheds full of explosive Acme products

Public scrutiny = a lit match

Insolvency = an explosion which has caused an enormous rock to fall from a precipice

Fed reinforcement of Bear Sterns, etc. = a small, salmon-colored umbrella braced against the coming rock

Bottom falling out of the market = the rock arriving and knocking the Coyote through the floor of an outcropping and into midair

Falling = falling

Market crash = hitting the ground with a white puff

Actual economic prosperity = a large pizza.

Now, if only a massive accounting of The Acme Company was somehow involved in all of this…