decalcomania

Decal is short for a French word decalcomania. It refers to the process of transferring words or pictures from paper to another surface, such as glass or porcelain. The image is created on paper using special vanishes and paints in such a way that they will slide off the paper onto the desired surface.

agromania. anglomania. balletomania. bibliomania. decalcomania. dipsomania. egomania. kleptomania. leishmania. logomania. megalomania. monomania. necromania. nymphomania. onomatomania. phaneromania. potomania. pyromania. squandermania. trichotillomania.

I think the meaning is:

our window on the world is capitalism (right half of painting) - business shapes the way the world looks, its streets, shops, opportunities and desires. And it's inescapable. If you look outside the world of capitalism (left side of painting), your focus is drawn to the central figure - the motivations of men (and woman) in pursuit of advantage and opportunity.

Not sure how accurate this is but I find it satisfying.

T

As far as I can tell, cockamamie is not from Yiddish, but rather a child's corruption of decalcomania, the cheap and temporary tattoos. " dye transfers that youngsters used to put on their hands and arms. Since they were cheap, they soon wore off. So, 'cockamamie' first meant anything trifling or second-rate, and later came to mean simply silly or laughable." From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).