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Friday Funnies

The fate of General Motors

Scott Stantis | 4.3.2009 7:00 AM

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NEXT: Tasmanian Devils

Scott Stantis
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  1. SIV   16 years ago

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

  2. Suki   16 years ago

    That one was approaching funny, at some level.

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

  3. domoarrigato   16 years ago

    accurate, yes. funny, no.

  4. Bob   16 years ago

    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.

  5. Mango Punch   16 years ago

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

  6. Every Friday I think to myself   16 years ago

    I wish I could draw like that.

  7. Team America   16 years ago

    Sigh.

  8. FrBunny   16 years ago

    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!

  9. some fed   16 years ago

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

  10. Nick   16 years ago

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

  11. Jim Bob   16 years ago

    Tough crowd.

  12. sage   16 years ago

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

  13. Spoonman   16 years ago

    “Government Motors” would be a better joke if a seventh-grader couldn’t think of it.

  14. P Brooks   16 years ago

    Government Motors!!!!!1

    whooo! Let me catch my breath.

  15. SugarFree   16 years ago

    I wish I could draw like that.

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

  16. Warren   16 years ago

    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.

  17. the innominate one   16 years ago

    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.

  18. David (not that one)   16 years ago

    SugarFree @ 9:36 FTW.

  19. Joel   16 years ago

    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?

  20. Barry Loberfeld   16 years ago

    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.

  21. Reinmoose   16 years ago

    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.

  22. The Dude   16 years ago

    I gotta say, I’ll be using “Government Motors” from now on, so I gotta applaud the comic this week.

  23. domoarrigato   16 years ago

    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…

  24. NAL   16 years ago

    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…”

  25. Reinmoose   16 years ago

    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”

  26. NAL   16 years ago

    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”.

  27. Episiarch   16 years ago

    Sucktastic.

  28. Barry Loberfeld   16 years ago

    domoarrigato,

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

  29. skole   16 years ago

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

  30. barry.s@motors.gov   16 years ago

    To: cankles@motors.gov
    Subject: fried chicken
    Body:
    ur husband 8 all the fried chicken in the wh!!1

    wtf!??

  31. Rimfax   16 years ago

    Yet again, geek comics get the win:

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

  32. Rimfax   16 years ago

    Does Stantis think that John Kerry won the election?

  33. Nooge   16 years ago

    Penny Arcade rules.

  34. Twitter Bug   16 years ago

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

  35. domoarrigato   16 years ago

    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.

  36. Arshne   16 years ago

    Ya’ll are a tough crowd to please!

  37. Untermensch   16 years ago

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

  38. GAC   16 years ago

    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)

  39. Kid Blast   16 years ago

    This one is better:

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

  40. Silentz   16 years ago

    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’?

  41. wingnutx   16 years ago

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

  42. tardy hardy   16 years ago

    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.

  43. Scarpe Nike   14 years ago

    is good

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