And the cost to the supplier of immediate cash payment by the bank, in respect of the implicit interest rate or discount on the bill, ought to be tiny - because the bank is in effect lending to the safe big company, which ultimately honours the bill, not to the riskier supplier.

BBC: How business can bypass banks

Japan, however, is also suffering an effect that arises from its practice of underpaying young workers as part of an implicit bargain in which, after automatic promotion, they will be overpaid when older.

ECONOMIST: Social conventions and demography add to the sclerosis

Implicit in the ThinkProgress article is the belief that an employer should NOT be able to fire an employee because of his sexual orientation.

FORBES: And now for hypocrisy on the left: Lankford is right that you should be able to fire gays (but for the wrong reason)

All of which means that for the foreseeable future there will be even more pressure on a reluctant European Central Bank to intervene in government bond markets to keep implicit borrowing costs for Spain and Italy below penal levels.

BBC: After downgrades, all eyes on ECB

In particular, if no countervailing actions are taken, what would be perceived as an implicit expansion of the safety net could exacerbate the problem of "too big to fail, " possibly resulting in excessive risk-taking and yet greater systemic risk in the future.

FORBES: Reducing Systemic Risk