Welcome to Our Junkie Economy

It started with Bear Stearns. Just a few billion dollars to take the edge off.

Then Fannie and Freddie gave their lives over to the drug completely, followed by AIG.

Suddenly everbody wanted a hit, they soaked up the drug to the tune of $700 billion dollars, and we thought it was over, but they kept wanting more, and the pushers keep supplying them:

The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday a radical plan to buy massive amounts of short-term debts in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the economy.

…

The $99.4 billion daily market for this crucial financing, which relies on investors rather than banks, has virtually dried up. Most investors have become too jittery to buy paper for longer than overnight or a couple days.

I don’t know who first coined the phrase “junkie economy,” but it’s sure appropriate. I don’t know how we expect the financial players to restructure themselves when we keep enabling their behavior.