Let us begin with Johnny and Judy, who have a goal:
Oh, poor Johnny and Judy, you young and naive waifs, don't believe it for a moment...
If you're too young (or too forgetful) to know what I'm rambling about, in the 1980s, thanks to high interest rates, deregulation, a real estate bubble, stupidity, orgies of frivolous spending, and outright criminality, the S&L industry virtually collapsed, with nearly a quarter of the institutions going bankrupt after being exposed as essentially Ponzi schemes, and tens of thousands of people losing their life savings. The scandal cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $350 billion, brought down the Speaker Of The House, and made boring financial headlines that were ignored for years.
So please forgive if I picture Johnny and Judy heading back there in 20 years only to find Mr. Strong in jail and all their money vanished to the winds...
I'm now committed to scouring the Quarter Bin for other classic comics, such as "Internet Stocks Can Never Go Down," "Enron: The Future Of Business," "Bernie Madoff Makes $aving Fun," and "Mortgage-Backed Securities--There Is No Downside Whatsoever!"
The only change I would make to your prediction is that Mr. Strong would NOT be in jail, but rather be a chief financial officer in the Government.
ReplyDeleteArtwork here is by Chic Stone. This is the first giveaway comic I've seen by him, though he did a lot of one-page advertising strips that appeared in comic books. Probably paid better than inking Kirby!
Ah, but Charles Keating did serve 4 1/2 years in jail, until both his state and federal convictions were overturned...
ReplyDeleteSnell wrote "made boring financial headlines that were ignored for years."
ReplyDeleteBwah-ha-ha-ha! Back in the day, I was so into news and trivia...world leaders, entertainment, everything....but this story NEVER caught my interest!
Who rides...I mean walks (sorry kids didn't mean to rub it in) to an amusement park without money? I think John's second mistake (the first mistake was inexplicably bringing your life savings with you to an amusement park) is listening to his twin sister's tempting suggestion. Not only that but they proceed to eat their way to the poor house when they could have walked to McDonald's and fared better for much less. Sorry, but cheap food and amusement parks have never played in the same backfield, so to speak. Anyway, they probably lost their lunch on the roller coaster. One more amusement park note. Enjoy your last time riding like that on the carousel Judy, it's 1968 and in a couple of years you will be 15 and your hemline is going to be two-thirds of the way up your thigh.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Savings and Loan goes, I thought George Bailey told us that the money isn't in the vault but in her home and his business, etc. (You know the whole momma dollar meet papa dollar routine). So it turns out Bailey was no better than the rest of them. This is a sad day indeed.