I've always loved the scene in The Wire where Cutty walks into Avon's office and nervously asks Avon for money for his boxing gym, and Avon and Slim Charles just crack up when they learn the amount he is asking for.

Cutty: I know I can go around, collect a dollar here, a dollar there...
Avon: How much money you talkin' bout?
Cutty: (big pause)... Ten thousand.
Avon (laughing): Slim, go get him fifteen thousand, cash.

Now, can't you just imagine a similar sequence with Robert Willumstad, CEO of AIG, walking into the federal reserve offices and nervously asking Ben Bernanke for the 40 billion AIG needed to escape the credit downgrade, and Bernanke and Hank Paulson just start laughing and give him 85 billion instead?

Never thought I'd see the day when Wall Street reminds me of a downtown Baltimore drug cartel in a tv series.

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