The Dealers, or the Economy as global coke market

I've been talking politics lately with my friend Mark, and he cleaned up some thinking I'd been doing on the economy.

I wrote:

> The current bailout is like the Colombians instead sending in another boatload of coke to the Mob, just to 'get them on their feet' again…
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To which he replied:

Mostly correct, but you left out the user.

The Mob actually starts it, or rather bright boys who, unlike the old made guys, are college educated, suggest to the other made guys, let's tell the street dealers we'll let them buy twice as much for half as much down. The street dealers then go to the addicts and tell them they can have crack now, and pay later. They'll have to pay more later but the dealers know the addicts are good for it. I mean they got to have smoke, right? The addicts, believing they died and woke up in heaven say Sure! But of
course the addicts can't pay. The street dealers can't pay the made guys, the made guys can't pay the Colombians, but the Colombians, after getting all the cartels together and talking it out, give the Mob even more cocaine, because, shit, what else can they do, cut them off? If they did that they'd be out of business.

So the addicts are the house buyers, buying on mortgage, the street dealers are the brokers and the regional banks, the Mob are the big banks and investment houses (with a few big protection rackets like AIG), the Colombians are the government AND the sovereign wealth funds.

So it works except for the last group, but maybe that works too, because after all, they are all governments.

Mark