I happened to leave the country for a couple weeks, and while I was away Americans went gaga over … the tapir.
This is why I shouldn't leave you people unsupervised.
The market is obsessed with guessing when the Federal Reserve will begin tapering off its monthly purchases of bonds. That led to lots of jesting about the tapir, an animal that looks like some prehistoric cross between a pig and an anteater. Business Insider had a story on "11 Tapirs Who Are Worried About The Taper," a great excuse to post funny pictures of the beast. The caption for one particularly humorous photo read: "This tapir is worried that if economic weakness appears again, forcing the Fed to reverse its decision and increase the pace of its bond purchases, it could hurt the central bank's credibility." HILARIOUS.
But is the tapir really the right animal to represent the taper? No. By the looks of it, the tapir never eases up on much of anything.
Here are some better suggestions.