TYB
"People send signals and those signals are basically used as currency. And that's kind of how a lot of D.C. operators and foreign tycoons and businessmen work."
And there it is.
Can call it a political version of "Signaling Theory" in finance academic journals. Joe on the phone calls are a SIGNAL that he's standing ready to use the powers of the VP office to bribe, blackmail, threaten and cajole foreign businesses and tycoons for their own personal gain.
And we know they DID in fact IMPLEMENT those signals in practical activity with the threat to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees unless Ukraine fired the prosecutor investigating Burisma for corruption.
PUZZLE COMING TOGETHER. IT'S 'SIGNALLING THEORY'.