Sigurd Rinde has a great "story" about the financial situation we've been in these days. The story of our times - time to abolish accounting as we know it.
Imagine this, you're out driving... But the windshield is not there, instead you have a standardised set of reports coming up on a "dashboard" in front of you.
The reports are supposed to give you an idea as to where you are heading and what dangers might lurk, or jump out from the kerb.
I particularly like the implicit assumption that "bigger is better" in order to drive over the bumps (animals) in the roads. Of course, when there are too many curves, the Big trucks have more trouble. While there was nothing about Theory of Constraints in his story, I couldn't help thinking of TOC throughout, due to this kind of comment.
This financial crisis has done a lot of things for the world, including inspiring people to write entertaining and informative articles on the situation. The first one I saw was Jim Manzi's So Simple a Caveman Could Do It.
Imagine you live in a cave in hunter-gatherer society. Og is going to spend the day hunting. You have previously harvested some berries, lived frugally, and now have an extra handful of berries you can give Og to eat while he hunts all day. You and Og make a deal. When he returns from the hunt, he will give you two handfuls of meat.