Friday Funnies

The fate of General Motors

Scott Stantis | April 3, 2009

Comments

SIV|4.3.09 @ 7:07AM|#

Tell Stantis not to quit his day job, whatever that is.

Suki|4.3.09 @ 7:08AM|#

That one was approaching funny, at some level.

Anybody really good with imagenary numbers who can do a graph?

|4.3.09 @ 7:32AM|#

accurate, yes. funny, no.

|4.3.09 @ 7:54AM|#

Suki, that was approximately (1.32 x 10^-6)i Curlys (the standard unit of humor measurement) with a 95% confidence level of plus or minus (2.2 x 10^-7)i Curlys. Perhaps one day, we'll be able to use non-imaginary numbers to measure the humor.

|4.3.09 @ 8:10AM|#

This is stollen from a Drudge Report headline a few days ago. Funny? yes. Original? No.

Every Friday I think to myself|4.3.09 @ 8:11AM|#

I wish I could draw like that.

|4.3.09 @ 8:14AM|#

Sigh.

|4.3.09 @ 8:36AM|#

I'm going to submit a picture of Obama at a podium saying "I'm not a very good president."

Get it?! 'Cause he's not! HAR!

|4.3.09 @ 8:49AM|#

The thumbnail just has an empty suit (the neck is cutoff) standing over a GM logo. He should've run with that.

|4.3.09 @ 8:55AM|#

Wow. Has it ever been determined if these hacks get paid? Is this why newspapers are failing?

|4.3.09 @ 9:00AM|#

Tough crowd.

|4.3.09 @ 9:07AM|#

He should have had Obama saying "Today GM, tomorrow GE!"

Spoonman|4.3.09 @ 9:12AM|#

"Government Motors" would be a better joke if a seventh-grader couldn't think of it.

|4.3.09 @ 9:15AM|#

Government Motors!!!!!1


whooo! Let me catch my breath.

|4.3.09 @ 9:36AM|#

I wish I could draw like that.

I could bash your hands with a hammer a few times.

|4.3.09 @ 9:40AM|#

By Friday Funny standards, this week's rates near the top YTD. Not saying the space couldn't be put to better use with pictures of dead kittens.

the innominate one|4.3.09 @ 9:42AM|#

Suki | April 3, 2009, 7:08am | #
That one was approaching funny, at some level.

Anybody really good with imagenary numbers who can do a graph?

Yes, but the graph is imaginary also.

|4.3.09 @ 9:57AM|#

SugarFree @ 9:36 FTW.

Joel|4.3.09 @ 10:11AM|#

Scott, Scott, Scott...

Okay, first: "Government Motors" is, like, on every blog on the tubz. There's no 'wow, wish I'd thought of that' shock value.

Second, if it's just stating the obvious, it's not funny.

'Kay?

Barry Loberfeld|4.3.09 @ 10:11AM|#

FROM Buy American? Sell American!:

But the fundamental failing of Buchanan's manufacturers-good/consumers-bad theory is that it contravenes the primary dictate of sound economics: Focus not on one party in the short run, but on all parties in the long run. We are not all the CEO of GM, but we are all consumers - including GM's CEO.

A Modest Proposal

So now the question becomes: Why does "economic nationalism" demand sacrifice from you and me but not Mr. CEO? Why not have an "economic nationalism" that really puts the American nation - i.e., American consumers - first?

People often say that tariffs are "taxes," but another way to look at it is that protectionism is price control. So, instead of controlling prices to make foreign products less affordable, why not control them to make domestic ones more affordable? In another words, instead of forcing our country's consumers to "buy America," i.e., pay higher prices, why not force its companies to sell American, i.e., charge lower ones? That's how you fight "cheap imports" - with cheaper domestics, not expensive ones.

And the objection would be what - production costs? If we can blank out the factors that determine whether you or I can afford to purchase a product, why can't we instead blank out the factors that determine whether a business can afford to make it? And since those include labor, here's the best part: When American products are priced (by the coercive state, not the free market) lower than imports, all the jobs at GM - from company head to company janitor - will be protected. Honestly, what's not to love?

The bottom line is this: If GM isn't going to give each of us a free car, there's no reason why we should give GM a free ride, i.e., a "level playing field" where their competition is priced out of our reach. Let's not have any nonsense that that car represents impoverishing "consumption," while that ride constitutes enriching "production." If American CEOs don't consider it their patriotic duty to charge lower prices, then it's damn well not our duty to pay higher ones.

Reinmoose|4.3.09 @ 10:24AM|#

How did a drawing of a scene from the president's press conference end up on Friday Funnies?

That is, it's not funny if it's true, and there's no discernable deviation from what really happened.

The Dude|4.3.09 @ 10:30AM|#

I gotta say, I'll be using "Government Motors" from now on, so I gotta applaud the comic this week.

|4.3.09 @ 10:41AM|#

Barry Loberfield,

I read your page and I'm struggling a bit to understand what you advocate. What do you propose the government approach should be in order to force GM to "sell american"? Are they meant to lower prices below costs and be subsidized for their operational losses? I don't get it, but I tried...

|4.3.09 @ 10:48AM|#

A funnier cartoon would have Obama as a car
salesman selling an old clunker labeled
"Auto Bailout". The caption could have Obama saying, "This one was used by a salesman who used to work here..."

Reinmoose|4.3.09 @ 10:53AM|#

A funnier cartoon would have Obama as a car salesman selling an old clunker labeled
"Auto Bailout". The caption could have Obama saying, "This one was used by a salesman who used to work here..."

How about "we're offering financing so low you'll never have to pay us back"

|4.3.09 @ 11:11AM|#

How about "we're offering financing so low you'll never have to pay us back"

Another one: Obama in the passenger seat of the "Auto Bailout" car trying to sell the car to a customer labeled "American Taxpayers". Obama says, "This one is a real gem we'll let you have for only $34,000,000,000.00". Meanwhile the car is running over a third person labeled, "Non-union American Autoworker".

|4.3.09 @ 11:19AM|#

Sucktastic.

Barry Loberfeld|4.3.09 @ 11:26AM|#

domoarrigato,

Satire, sir, satire. The idea is simply that they should be forced to lower the sticker price.

skole|4.3.09 @ 11:37AM|#

Bring back Chip Bok! He's the greatest! Bring him back!

[e-mail]|4.3.09 @ 11:37AM|#

To: [e-mail]
Subject: fried chicken
Body:
ur husband 8 all the fried chicken in the wh!!1

wtf!??

Rimfax|4.3.09 @ 11:52AM|#

Yet again, geek comics get the win:

Penny Arcade: "The Way Of All Flesh" (accompanying rant)

Rimfax|4.3.09 @ 11:54AM|#

Does Stantis think that John Kerry won the election?

|4.3.09 @ 12:19PM|#

Penny Arcade rules.

Twitter Bug|4.3.09 @ 12:36PM|#

I just finished bangin' a bar skank I picked up last night. Now I'm going to make eggs and toast.

|4.3.09 @ 12:37PM|#

Satire, sir, satire. The idea is simply that they should be forced to lower the sticker price.

Ah - no offense then, but might consider upping the bite, a la A Modest Proposal - I was thinking you were fine with coercive government economic policy, just wanted a different "solution". I would prefer they lower the price tag to "free" and take the rest of the year off.

|4.3.09 @ 12:57PM|#

Ya'll are a tough crowd to please!

Untermensch|4.3.09 @ 1:02PM|#

I'm afraid this one fails the Marmaduke test. It might even fail the Cathy test. I predict the imminent implosion of Reason...

GAC|4.3.09 @ 1:02PM|#

Um, just so everyone knows, this comic originally ran on Tuesday...

(I keep up with Stantis as he is the cartoonist for my hometown paper, and he has some good ones on the local government)

Kid Blast|4.3.09 @ 1:49PM|#

This one is better:

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IMAGES/CARTOONS/toon033109.gif

|4.3.09 @ 4:03PM|#

Friday Funnies seems to be like an entitlement program. It just doesn't work, but no one dares to try to get rid of it.

Seriously though, when was the last funny 'Friday Funnies'?

wingnutx|4.3.09 @ 6:03PM|#

You guys wouldn't know a great political cartoon if it bit you on the ass.

|4.5.09 @ 6:32PM|#

You guys wouldn't know a great political cartoon if it bit you on the ass.

Well I guess Rimfax would, considering he posted the same thing about 6 hours before you did wing commander.