If Wall Street were a jewelry store - a subtler form of a smash and grab

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

They own the jewelry store. They sell jewelry. They make money. Just not as much as they would like. . . So every day, in addition to their salaries, a member of the upper management is allowed to leave with a ring and a necklace. The store becomes emptier and emptier because, strangely, the inventory is mostly gone and nothing of real value is left. They will need assistance to keep the store open. They will file a claim with their insurance (us taxpayers) who will pay them for the disappeared jewelry (which they converted to cash which is tucked away in their safes at home). They will open a new larger store with an all new jewelry inventory that the taxpayer provided them. What's not to love?

I wrote most of that back on July 16th and it has come to pass almost exactly as described.

[thecrow]

1. Thank you for this analogy

For this of us who understand things visually, this visual is a help to explain the situation.
Talk of derivatives and hedge funds are total Chinese to some of us.