Two Funny Videos about Economics?
An Economics Duology!
You can’t make fun of American culture without making fun of the way we put commerce above everything. “The business of America is business!” said one of our presidents*. So I’m posting a couple of business-related songs from my recent special as standalone videos, mostly because they turned out really good and I’m proud of them, but also because they compliment each other really well in a one-two punch of satire, digging into some of our underlying cultural beliefs that have formed this culture we’re swimming in .
The Invisible Hand of the Market! 👻
One of those cultural beliefs is found in the metaphor of the invisible hand—the belief that free markets are guided “as if by an invisible hand” to produce the most equitable distribution of goods and wealth and thus the best of all possible worlds. It’s a belief held by those politicians who tell you regulations are the enemy of progress, freedom, and prosperity. They have an unwavering and almost religious belief that if you let people and companies pursue their self interest things will just work out.
When someone tells you “we don’t need laws telling industries not to pollute, the invisible hand of the market is in control!” it sounds less like economic theory and more like there’s a shadowy villain organization like Spectre or Quantum called The Invisible Hand running things.
So that’s why I wrote The Invisible Hand in the style of a James Bond theme song, with amazing video design by Steven Rosenthal.
Corporations Are People Too!
Another odd economic belief we have here in America is that corporations are treated like persons in the eyes of the law. It’s why a company like Hobby Lobby can say they have religious beliefs that allow them to deny birth control coverage in their health care plan. And it’s also how corporations get away with spending billions to support political candidates: their money is considered speech, to which they have a constitutional right because they’re persons!
This idea of corporate personhood gets so ridiculous I had to make fun of it the best way I knew how: with a sunshine pop animated video in the style of Schoolhouse Rock! Character design and illustration are by my good friend and great artist Dan Pavelich (check out his TeePublic store!)
If you want a little more backstory—and more jokes!—on these topics check out the intro monologues in the full special! Or better yet, check out the whole special! There are songs about the Satanic Panic, Henry Ford, 19th Century minstrel shows and how they kind of relate to current laws that try to control the way we teach the history of race in America…
*the full quote is “the chief business of the American people is business,” from Calvin Coolidge, 1925.
I even have a button giveaway exclusively for this festival! The fest is a “no handbill zone,” meaning no flyers! So I’m giving away buttons with a QR code for the show’s website. Track me down at the fest and I’ll be happy to give you one. And if you ask nicely I may even be able to give you a comp ticket to the show, just let me know you read this post 🙂
In fact, it’s the trip to Edmonton that inspired this epic merch drop. I was pondering putting together a kickstarter campaign to help support taking the project to the Great White North, but it felt weird to do a big drive for a live event where there was no ‘thing’ to send to supporters. And since my favorite part of kickstarter campaigns is coming up with the fun extras people can get with different levels of funding, I decided to just make the cool stuff and sell it directly without guilting anyone into supporting a campaign.
Did you know the state song of Florida, “
