Legal Research

Marxist Budget

By scott

As already mentioned by Phil Bradley, we attended Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’ debate last night on how to save $100 Billion. We had gone to wave the Library cause flag but didn’t get the chance.

The purpose was to have some debate ahead of George Osborne’s emergency budget cut-a-thon [ “Oh, it’s a scythe…..” Blackadder]

Anyway, Georgie boy was speaking in the commons a few moments ago and I suddenly thought of Chico Marx. That in turn lead me to the answers to all our problems - the past. Let’s look at how others coped …

Minister of Finance: Here is the Treasury Department’s report, sir. I hope you’ll find it clear.
Rufus T. Firefly: Clear? Huh. Why a four-year-old child could understand this report.
Rufus T. Firefly: Run out and find me a four-year-old child, I can’t make head or tail of it.

Rufus T. Firefly: Now that you’re Secretary of War, what kind of an army do you think we ought to have?
Chicolini: Well, I tell you what I think, I think we should have a standing army.
Rufus T. Firefly: Why should we have a standing army?
Chicolini: Because then we save money on chairs.

Freedonia’s Secretary of War: How about taking up the tax?
Rufus T. Firefly: How ’bout taking up the carpet?
Freedonia’s Secretary of War: I still insist we must take up the tax.
Rufus T. Firefly: He’s right, you’ve gotta take up the tacks before you can take up the carpet.

Prosecutor: Something must be done! War would mean a prohibitive increase in our taxes.
Chicolini: Hey, I got an uncle lives in Taxes.
Prosecutor: No, I’m talking about taxes - money, dollars!
Chicolini: Dollars! There’s-a where my uncle lives! Dollars, Taxes!

Secretary of Labor: The Department of Labor wishes to note that the workers of Freedonia are demanding shorter hours.
Rufus T. Firefly: Very well, we’ll give them shorter hours. We’ll start by cutting their lunch hour to 20 minutes.

Amazing how it was all there, totally clear in Duck Soup.

Full post as published by Information Overload on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).