Watching CNBC this morning, my pal Rick Santelli said something that took me back a few years. He said that the current crisis was like a room full of mouse traps loaded with ping pong balls.

It reminded me of an explanation of nuclear fission I had seen in physics class 28 years ago.

Santelli basically said that so far some sort of intervention has prevented this daisy chain from spiraling out of control. But Santelli also openly wondered how long the fed and others could keep catching these balls.

That's a question I ask myself everyday as the sick get sicker and the terminal head to their graves. 

What exactly will happen when one of these balls does hit the floor?

Can we really catch them all?

Here's the visual from so long ago.