ECONOMETRY – A Primer

Disk 1
Disk 1
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Dow Jones Syndrome [Avocado Rabbit]
Down And Out In New York City - James Brown. [njr]
Wall Street Blues - Procol Harum [Johnny Dark]
The Wall Street Shuffle - 10cc [RetroJoe]
Todd Snider - Dividing the Estate (A Heart Attack) [Funky Ratchet]
Horse Feathers - Working Poor [e.buster]
The Bailes Brothers - Has The Devil Got A Mortgage On You? [Strange Loop]
Gang of Four - Capital [Mr. Mirage]
Lila Downs - Minimum Wage [Doowad]
Robyn Archer - Supply And Demand [Yaminon]
The Beatles - You Never Give Me Your Money [Avocado Rabbit]
Hunters & Collectors - Back on the Breadline [njr]
The Newtown Neurotics - Living With Unemployment [Johnny Dark]
Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want) [RetroJoe]
Kurtis Blow - Hard Times [Funky Ratchet]
Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty! [e.buster]
Jimmy Smith - Recession Or Depression [Strange Loop]
Omar & The Howlers - Hard Times In The Land Of Plenty [Mr. Mirage]
El Trí - Casa, comida y sustento [Doowad]
Little Milton - We're Gonna Make It [Yaminon]

Disk 2
Phil Harris - Brother Can You Spare a Dime [RetroJoe]
Ray Charles - Busted [Mr. Mirage]
Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon - The Mortgage Blues, Part 1 [njr]
Wreckless Eric - Take The Cash [Yaminon]
Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown - Dollar Got the Blues [Strange Loop]
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Lien on Your Dreams [Funky Ratchet]
The Chi-Lites - (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People [gabechouinard]
The O'Jays - Laid Off [Johnny Dark]
Sonny Boy Williamson I - Welfare Store Blues [Doowad]
Cat Power - Lord Help the Poor and Needy [Avocado Rabbit]
The O'Jays - For the Love of Money [RetroJoe]
The Circle Jerks - When the Shit Hits the Fan [Mr. Mirage]
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Hard Times [njr]
Jackie Wilson - No Pity in the Naked City [Yaminon]
Royal Crown Revue - Datin' with no dough [Strange Loop]
The (International) Noise Conspiracy - Capitalism Stole My Virginity [Funky Ratchet]
B.B. King - Chains & Things [gabechouinard]
Ted Lewis & His Band - Headin’ For Better Times [Johnny Dark]
Randy Newman - Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man) [Avocado Rabbit]
Bob Dylan - Workingman’s Blues #2 [Doowad]


Here we are, a few months after the recession officially started and the economy has gotten worse, or is worsening, or has worsened. It’s so bad even my grammar and syntax are in a slump. And, by the way, shouldn’t congress institute a “syn-tax” to help fund all these bail-outs? From what I read in the papers and see on the news, there’s no shortage of sin or sinners.

Remember the economic stimulus package that President W came up with to give taxpayers back some of their own money, the idea being that they would revive the US economy by buying TV sets that were made in China? Doesn’t it seem a little comical now that the annual Christmas buying splurge has gone into the books as a total disaster?

Of course, that hasn’t stopped rich automakers from begging for their own $50 billion stimulus package. That gave “Kristen,” the prostitute who screwed (literally) the governor of New York, from asking for her own bail-out (again literally). She claims since she is no longer able to pursue her chosen profession, the federal government needs slip her some hundreds in a plain white envelope.

The price of gasoline soared to over $4 a gallon prompting Republicans to call for increased oil drilling everywhere, even in cemeteries and Dick Cheney’s backyard. Meanwhile, the Democrats called for a massive effort to find alternative energy sources, including wind, sun, tides, Al Gore and dragon’s breath. Less than enthused with Congress, Americans began buying less gasoline.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac invested $17 billion in an organic pizza franchise. The Clintons are reported to be in debt to the tune of $9 million with TV advertising and hairspray for Hillary being the two largest expenditures. Governor Palin spent $26 million of Alaska taxpayers’ money to build a tower with a telescope so the people “can better keep an eye on the Russians across the bay.”

Chrysler announces plans to lay off workers that haven’t even been hired yet. The only product that seems to be exceeding sales expectations is the new iPhone enhanced with the capability of sucking pieces of brain out through your ear. McCain tells top aids in a conference call that he wants a running mate capable of filling his shoes. Unfortunately he is speaking into an iPhone (which is sucking out his brain cells), and his aides think he said “someone who is capable of killing a moose.”

The fed finally cuts off AIG after its executives are caught selling crack cocaine at a middle school. Banks begin failing after years engaging in lending practices ranging from highly questionable to moronic, so the government says why not give these institution another $100 billion, generously provided by taxpayers.

The economy stabilizes for all of 3.3 seconds before it resumes going down the toilet.
Then the stock market plummets farther as investors realize that the only thing that had been keeping the economy afloat was the millions of dollars spent daily on TV commercials for presidential candidates explaining how they would fix the economy.

The National Bureau of Declaring Things That Make You Go "Duh" declares that the nation has been in a recession since December 2007. The bureau also points out that, according to its statistical analysis, "For some time now, bears apparently have been going to the bathroom in the woods." The president's Council of Economic Advisers warns that the current recession "could spiral downward into a full-blown depression," leaving the United States with "no viable economic option but to declare war on Japan."

So you can see where the concept of this mix is coming from. We gathered together the best and brightest economic minds on AotM and seated them at a roundtable. We ordered take-out (no $15 thousand bottles of wine) and the ten of us selected the songs for this mix. The organizers – Doowad and Avocado Rabbit – wish to thank Retro Joe, Funky Ratchet, Strange Loop, NJR, Yaminon, Mr. Mirage and Johnny Dark, for their particpation. In the course of our roundtable, we had our own crisis of sorts, our best wishes go out to Ethel Buster who was only able to sit for disk 1 and our warmest thanks to Gabe Chouinard who filled her chair quite admirably on disk 2.

The members of the roundtable would like to leave you with a single piece of advice, and that is “If you have any money left, you should spend it soon.”