Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for May 08, 2014
May 02, 2014
May 09, 2014
Transcript:
Enjoy this Classic Tom the Dancing Bug Vintage 2009 Every Thursday Panels from the annals of the Tom the Dancing Bug archive Check back every Friday for a fresh, brand new Tom the Dancing Bug! Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling 1776, Philadelphia Benjamin: And so, I propose a new nation, founded on the principles of democracy! John: Yeah, right. What's the angle, Benny? Benjamin: Okay, here's the scam...it'll make us all RICH for centuries! Thomas: Now yer talkin', scumbag. Benjamin: We muscle out the British and get our own country, see? And we keep increasing our standard of living Thomas: But how? Benjamin: Return on investment through the friggin' roof! Benjamin: Expansion! We got a whole CONTINENT to move in on! And the NEW investors pay off the OLD ones! John: Investors? Benjamin: Investors, citizens...call 'em what ya want, Johnny A. Thomas: Okay, but we can only expand for so long. Benjamin: But the population will continue to grow, T.J. Plus, we'll look so rich -- on PAPER -- lenders will be lining up! John: So we borrow from foreign states? Benjamin: Japan, China...we keep finding NEW SAPS to pay off the old ones! Thomas: Beautiful! But eventually we won't be able to borrow or tax any more! Benjamin: Then the whole thing collapses like a house of cards. Benjamin: But that won't happen for 240 years! What a party we'll have in the meantime. John: Look -- the investment scheme looks like a pyramid. EARLY INVESTORS Benjamin: Yeah...hey, let's put our pyramid on our one-dollar bill! Thomas: HAW! We're gonna have some angry suckers in the 21st century! John: Whaddaya call this scam, Benny? Benjamin: A Perpetually Outspreading National Zero-sum Investment scheme...or, the U.S.A.
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King_Shark over 10 years ago
And when you run out of suckers, make war an industry! You’ll have over 190 potential enemies to invade on fake premises, enslave and exploit!
QuiteDragon over 10 years ago
‘Cause, that’s not at all how the economy works… right?
lynxreign over 10 years ago
It isn’t, at least not any more. We have a fiat currency, we’re not borrowing from other countries, they’re investing is bonds. It would have been a better strip if it had been talking about how it gave white men a structural advantage that hasn’t been overcome to this day.
steverinoCT over 10 years ago
Hey, TJ introduced a decimal system of money, a century and a half before the Brits. We can at least thank him for that!
Grover Premium Member over 10 years ago
This strip has a point. Our government is based on deficit spending, and government is an ever-larger part of our economy. What would happen if people and foreign governments stopped buying our bonds? However, in a nation of blind men, a one-eyed man is king. And USA bonds, no matter how bad, are still the safest investment. Party on!!!
DarkHorseSki over 10 years ago
Actually the founders were not happy with deficits. It’s really the 20th century politicians that really got things going south by playing with the income tax and then adding on the tremendous socialism that came with FDR, JFK and LBJ.
Tinman Premium Member over 10 years ago
Carl, Vlad, and Joseph had it right. Wait, what? What do you mean the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed?