A most energetic response coming in here from the reader base for the Economist quiz.

First picture:

Tea-partiers ask to cut government down to size.
“No, Mr. Citibank, I expect you to die!”
The White House staff sings the Internationale while attending Morgan Stanley’s briss.
“Will Lego-Man escape the clutches of the evil Toy Baron?”

Second picture:

An engineering mishap during construction of the tomb of Kim Jong-Il.
“Hu’s down there?”
“Thanks for buying our T-Bills, sucker!”

Third picture:

I simply said “Massive market segmentation is developing.” Your auto-translation software make it “Businesses metamorphose with the help of enormous insects.”
“We celebrate our robotic mosquito overlords!”
[I suggest we channel Franz Kafka]