A bedtime story for our times

There once was a time when the land was blissful.
Children slept well, with dreams of iPads
jumping over fences.

And the parents slept all night, without a financial
worry to weigh on their minds.

Unbeknownst to them, while they were enjoying
the sleep of the comfortable, along came a
number of bankers who were beavering
away around the clock.

You see? they were in banking centres around
the world, so that banking never slept.
Beyond the control of any one government.

They had created light-as-a-butterfly pieces of
paper that they traded with one another.
Now these pretty papers were less than
worthless, but fools were ready
to buy them because of the sterling
reputation of the bank, keeping
people's coins safe.

The pieces of paper were piled so high,
that one day, they all fell down
and the banks were gasping for air.
The King heard these cries and used
Monetised paper shovels to dig through
the original pile and save the bankers.

And the bankers rejoiced, by themselves

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