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Script:

PANELS 1 & 2. The Federal Reserve, depicted as a professorial-looking man (bow tie, pipe), cheerily talking to a balding, working-class looking dude in an undershirt. Working class dude is listening without much expression.
FEDERAL RESERVE: hi! i’m the federal reserve! i practically run the economy! i COULD use my powers to lower unemployment, but INVESTORS don’t want that. in fact, whenever unemployment gets LOW, i make it go UP. because that’s what wall street wants. i purposely create unemployment!
PANELS 3 & 4 The Federal Reserve is gone, and in his place is The Banking Industry, depicted as a balding man in a vest, tie and jacket, and with dollar bills floating in the air around him. Banking Industry is even more cheerful than Federal Reserve was. Working class dude continues listening expressionlessly.
BANKING INDUSTRY: hey there! I’m the banking industry. i pack the government with my friends, and gamble wildly until i destroy the entire economy. after that, i’ll get bailed out with YOUR tax dollars. then i’ll foreclose on the horribly inequitable mortgage i sold you and take your home!
PANEL 5: Man wearing Uncle Sam hat has now replaced Banking Industry. Uncle Sam waves cheerily. Working Class Dude continues to listen expressionlessly.
UNCLE SAM: greetings! i’m your goverment!
PANEL 6: Uncle Sam leans in and whispers. Working Class Dude continues to listen expressionlessly.
UNCLE SAM: i make little GESTURES towards reform, but in the end i always take the banks’ side! because they totally OWN me!
PANELS 7 & 8: An Immigrant Dude replaces Uncle Sam, and speaks cheerfully. Immigrant Dude looks exactly like Working Class Dude, except his skin is a little darker. Working Class Dude continues to listen expressionlessly.
IMMIGRANT DUDE: hello! i’m an immigrant. i just want to work hard to feed my family.
PANEL 9: Working Class Dude yells very loudly and angrily; Immigrant Dude winces back in surprise.
WORKING CLASS DUDE: QUIT RUINING MY LIFE, YOU SELFISH BASTARD!!

This cartoon was co-written by Rachel Swirsky.

Description of cartoon:

Panel 1: An angry-looking cartoon donut yells at the reader. The hole in the donut forms the donut’s huge, yelling mouth; the donut also has cartoony-looking, angry eyes, and a big nose. The donut is holding two stone tablets Moses-style.
DONUT: HARK, o my children! It is I, your LORD AND GOD the DEFICIT! Incarnated in pastry raiment to decree MY HOLY COMMANDMENTS!
FOOTNOTE: Why a donut? Because it has a hole.

Panel 2: Donut, now without tablets, continues yelling.
DONUT: Thou shalt not have single payer health care. for though it would save money, I, the LORD YOUR DEFICIT, in my all-knowing wisdom, pronounce that we CAN’T AFFORD IT!

Panel 3: Donut gestures hugely, arms above head.
DONUT: Hear me, the LORD YOUR DEFICIT! We cannot afford it! Neither to restore HEALTH unto the sick, nor to give PROSPERITY to the foresaken. YEA, even though social spending would curtail recession and replenish coffers, still we CANNOT afford it!

Panel 4: Donut is now wearing a US Army officer’s hat, and holding a automatic rifle in one hand and a knife in the other.
DONUT: Yet I, THE DEFICIT, pronounce unto you that endless wars NEED NOT be paid for! Never let cost deter you from raining onto the ground the BLOOD of those who are REPELLENT unto you!

Panel 5: Extreme close-up of Donut’s face. The military cap is gone. Donut yells.
DONUT:Thou shalt EVERLASTINGLY support tax cuts, no matter the cost!
SO SAYETH THE DEFICIT!
And thou shalt NEVER raise taxes, no matter the need for revenue!
SO SAYETH THE DEFICIT!

Panel 6: The donut is shown very distant from the reader, at the top of a steep mountain. There are clouds behind the donut and a lightning bolt is coming from one of the clouds.
DONUT: OBEY these commandments, my children! free your hearts of skepticism, and compassion, and basic knowledge of economics. then thou shalt be pleasing unto me, YOUR LORD THE DEFICIT! AMEN!

There is a caption at the bottom of the entire cartoon, which says, “The Church of Fiscal Conservatism.”

A cartoon that was inspired by Paul Krugman’s article “How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?”

[Visual description:
Panel one: Dude wearing "Uncle Sam" hat and a Hawaiian shirt is walking alongside a cliff, with John Keynes, who has a big mustache.
HAT DUDE: Keynes, you are old-fashioned and useless. Modern economics has transcended you.
Panel 2: Hat Dude teeters on the edge of falling off the cliff.
HAT DUDE: Oh Dear! I am plummeting over a cliff! SAVE ME KEYNES!
Panel 3: Keynes has caught hat dude by the wrist and is pulling him to safety.
KEYNES: It's okay... I've got you!
HAT DUDE: Thank you, Keynes!
Panel 4: They resume their walk.
HAT DUDE: As I was saying, Keynes, you're of no use at all! ]

This comic strip was a component of a larger page of cartoons originally done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. You can view the whole thing here.

This comic strip was a component of a larger page of cartoons originally done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. You can view the whole thing here.

This comic strip was a component of a larger page of cartoons originally done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. You can view the whole thing here.

This comic strip was a component of a larger page of cartoons originally done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. You can view the whole thing here.

This comic strip was a component of a larger page of cartoons originally done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. You can view the whole thing here.

“Recession Funnies” was a 2/3 page group of cartoons done for Dollars & Sense Magazine. It’s too large to fit in this space, but you can view the whole thing here.

Originally published in Dollars and Sense. A tip of the pen to Ezra Klein’s blog, my favorite health care policy blog.

Although, really, this cartoon would be more accurate if I hadn’t put the word “USA” in the first panel.

Probably I should have used a phrase other than “third world….”

Originally published on Mother’s Day, naturally.

I like how the colors came out in this one.