From 1952, a short from The New York Stock Exchange called “What Makes Us Tick“:

[YouTube direct link]

When they go through the segment on what it takes to issue stock, I almost busted out laughing, because I kept thinking about all those liberal yahoos in Washington yammering on and on about our “unregulated” markets.

The important thing to take from this video is that it requires a lot of people making a lot of agreements and taking a lot of risks to keep the financial markets working. However, it’s all voluntary, and everyone is free to pull out when they decide their interests are best served by putting their money elsewhere.

The unimportant thing to take from this is that once you marry a woman, she’ll turn into a chubby, bon-bon-gobbling layabout who’ll make you scrub the kitchen floor, so you should seek retribution by squirreling away part of your paycheck to invest in the stock market.

From 1956, a little something from the American Petroleum Institute called “Destination Earth“:

[Google Video direct link]

Can’t help wondering when our Beloved Leader Obb the Exalted will start “inviting” us to attend special giant joy rallies.

Towards the middle, this short gets into something that got overlooked the last time people cared about oil (circa 2008) – the fact that gasoline is NOT the only reason we need the stuff.

Now, I warn you ahead of time that the dialogue is mostly so lame and stilted that it makes Scooby Doo look like Family Guy, but there’s a decent payoff at the end.

Drill here. Drill now.

And up yours, Beloved Leader.

From 1954, a two-parter called “It’s Everybody’s Business”. The first half does a nice job of showing how constitutional principles are the basis of a free market:

[YouTube direct link]

The second half explains how free markets are supposed to work in a free society:

[YouTube direct link]

Two things I especially liked in part 2 are the fist-and-dagger representation of what America’s “hero” FDR actually did to this country during WWII (segment starts at 4:57), and an almost Nostrodamical prediction of Obama’s rise to power (segment starts at 7:47).

From 1945, the slideshow version of pamphlet version of Friedrich Hayek’s classic 1944 book, “The Road to Serfdom” (caution – gawdawful background music; turn down your speakers to avoid headaches):

[YouTube direct link]

Gotta love the irony of fact that the pamphlet from which these pictures are taken was published & distributed by General Motors.

Scary thing is, I think we’re about 4 minutes into this scenario: “Early step of all dictators is to inflame the majority in common cause against some scapegoat minority”.

AIG bonuses, anyone?

From 1951, “Meet King Joe”:

[YouTube direct link]

Hypersensitive liberals shouldn’t watch this, since it contains stereotypes about bucktoothed Chinese, red-headed Irish, and nagging wives.

Pay careful attention at around the 5 minute point and the line “With constant improvement in expensive tools and the skill to use them, the value of any man’s labor can be multiplied many times.”

Eerily prescient, that. Who’d have believed back then that those pig-tailed paddy-waders would have the skull-sauce to run a railroad?

From 1948, “Going Places”:

[YouTube direct link]

Notice how when they say the word “profit”, they don’t use tones of disgust.

Wish we had a President that considered profit a virtue instead of a necessary evil that’s more evil than necessary.

To help wash that awful hippie taste out of your mouth from that last video, here’s a little something that Warner Brothers did in 1954, “By Word of Mouse”:

[may contain ads]

[Daily Motion direct link]

Funny how mice that can barely speak English can comprehend the basics of capitalism, yet Obama is still utterly befuddled by it.

Joe Biden went to the University of Delaware and touted the virtues of high speed rail, not unlike this guy:

Comparative quotes:

Joe Biden: “It’s about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs… mostly union jobs, a job you can live a middle class life on.”

—–

Barney: “What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: “You’ll be given cushy jobs”

Joe Biden: “Ladies and gentlemen this is the single best investment for my children and grandchildren in transportation that I could possibly make.”

—–

Lyle Lanley: “I swear it’s Springfield’s only choice, throw up your hands and raise your voice.”

I tell ya, it’s just CREEPY when life imitates cartoons.

[“Make Mine Freedom”, YouTube direct link]