Comments (21)

• Franklin

  I am not familiar with these British comedians. I was enjoying this thoroughly, laughing out loud several times at its ingenuity and spot-on satire,and thought it was hilarious. But then the explanation of subprime failures was anecdotally characterized by, "... imagine...an unemployed black man sitting on a crumbling porch somewhere in Alabama...." I'm hurt when I hear those kinds of comments. Maybe I'm just too sensitive but the humor would have been just as effective without racial references. Too bad.
  Cheers.
  Franklin

  Published: September 30, 2008 11:32 AM

• Greg Hood

  Dead On, Bravo. Thank you Jeffrey Tucker for the post!

  Published: September 30, 2008 11:35 AM

• Jeffrey Tucker

  Franklin, I agree. Maybe it is just a British thing but it turns out that there are real people in Alabama, and many blacks in this state are far more credit worthy than many whites.

  Published: September 30, 2008 11:44 AM

• phil jones

  It does bring you up short. But I think the implicit racism of that comment is meant to be "in character" . They're not saying "black guys in Alabama are more likely to be a bad risk", they're saying "these investment bankers are so odious that their world view includes this kind of casual racial stereotyping"

  Published: September 30, 2008 12:56 PM

• phil jones

  The other thing that's impressive about this is that I believe it's from *last year* ... and check out the punch-line at the end.

  Published: September 30, 2008 12:58 PM

• Yumi

  It's from a show called Bremner, Bird & Fortune (Bird and Fortune here).

  Published: September 30, 2008 1:07 PM

• hz

  it is from last year, i remember when the clip was played on Jim Puplava's show. These guys also did a hilarious bit on the Northern Rock collapse.

  The racial sterotype is unfortunate, but it's probably just a British thing... they don't know any more about what Alabama is really like than your average Manhattan resident. They know their audience doesn't know anything about Alabama either, so they go with a caricature.

  Published: September 30, 2008 1:55 PM

• mark m

  Franklin,

  These comedians are what I would call left of centre. Take the black guy comment as a cynical swipe at American capitalism - i.e., that American money markets are founded on exploitation of black people. In that sense the humour is directed at the money dealers rather than black people. Thats how I see it anyway.

  Published: September 30, 2008 1:57 PM

• Ireland

  Dear mises blog readership, I think The Long Johns deserve better than get punched for being politically incorrect. Here's some more:

  Run on Northern Rock

  
  Diplomat - Iraqi Oil

  
  Admiral Sir George Parr

  
  British Army

  Published: September 30, 2008 3:11 PM

• bkm

  good lord. its a joke. its humor. its supposed to be shocking. that is the point. the P.C. non-sense needs to go.

  the most annoying part of the outpouring of grief about a comment about a poor black man in alabama in this instance is - none of you know the leanings of the actors or the context of the bit. like someone above said, it could very well be that the comedians were intending to satirize and caricature american capitalists. in that situation, is it still offensive because it assumes american capitalists are racist?

  stop whining. thought i had entered a critical studies course discussion

  Published: September 30, 2008 4:14 PM

• calorifer

  are you sure it's not you guys that are racist? i didn't even notice that line had racial connotations until you guys made it sound like it did.

  Published: September 30, 2008 4:49 PM

• Kit

  The brief snatch of music at the end (Variations on a Theme by Paganini) indicates to me that this clip is from the "South Bank Show" (an arts programme) that was broadcast 14th October 2007.

  I can assure you that Bird and Fortune are both highly respected, intelligent (Kings College, Cambridge) satirists. I am sure they no more believe that everyone in Alabama is black, sitting on a porch and playing a banjo than you believe that everone in London is a cheeky cockney with a Dick van Dycke accent. It is just as likely they were satirising the bigotted views of upper-class Brits as the attitude of American investment bankers.

  I would be interested to know the statistics on socio-economic conditions for African Americans in the Southern States. Saying that a black man is poor is not racist. Creating and maintaining a society where a black man is more likely to be poor is racist. And yes, the Brits are just as guilty of that as well.

  Published: September 30, 2008 5:40 PM

• Franklin

  The line had racial connotations in it. Now whether it was made deliberately, to imply racism of unethical bankers, is a possibility to which I can appreciate. Nevertheless, I felt the characterization detracted from the piece, and it upsets me that the comedian's imagery (in character or not) needed to have a color included in it.

  I do appreciate the PC accusation, however, since in other circles I'm usually considered an anarcho-capitalist pig. : )
  
  Cheers and regards,
  F.
  

  Published: September 30, 2008 9:24 PM

• Edward

  Franklin; I have met Mr. Bird and Fortune, and I can assure you they meant it as satire. They are both brilliant comedians dedicated to exposing the idiocy of prejudice. Both of them are fully committed to equality, and I'm sure they'd be horrified to know someone thought them racist.

  Published: October 1, 2008 12:41 AM

• Susy

  I agree. This is humour, Franklin, and it's subtle, sharp and to the point.
  I don't hear anyone saying that only whites are credit worthy...
  They pictured an example that sadly caricatures some real cases. Why are you hurt?
  Aren't you over generalizing and making assumptions based on your own country prejudices?

  Published: October 1, 2008 7:33 AM

• mohammed

  The black man comment is keeping in character - that of the vivaciously vacuous and ignorant Neo-Con white Wall Street/City banker, who's ideas about society and social hierarchy still reside in the 19th century.

  Published: October 1, 2008 7:57 AM

• Kendrick

  The racial comment is satire. British humor is rife with it.

  My dictionary defines satire as "The use of humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of politics and other topical issues."

  Published: October 1, 2008 8:05 AM

• Jeffrey Tucker

  Mohammed, that makes the most sense. Thank you

  Published: October 1, 2008 9:14 AM

• Vangel Vesovski

  Sorry Franklin but the explanation of subprime mortgages by using the words, "... imagine...an unemployed black man sitting on a crumbling porch somewhere in Alabama...." is quite appropriate. It has been pointed out on this site and elsewhere that one of the catalysts for the housing bubble was the revision of the Community Reinvestment Act, which would fine banks for not lending money to low-income people with bad credit. This was done because the Clinton Administration had set a goal to promote home ownership among minorities and that goal overrode credit concerns of lenders. The banks started to lend reluctantly but once the regulators forced the GSEs to play along and devote ever growing portions of their balance sheets to CRA loans the risks for the financial sector were lowered and the bubble grew bigger and bigger.

  The whole subprime mess is a failure of statism and politics and has nothing to do with the free market. What is ironic is that two comedians from the UK could see the whole thing clearly and could anticipate what the end game was going to be while Pelosi and the simpletons in Congress say that they could not see the problem coming their way.

  Published: October 1, 2008 2:09 PM

• Franklin

  Vangel, the causes of the financial abyss are not at issue. What provoked my comment was that the actor's illustration employed skin color to epitomize the borrower who was provided the high risk mortgage. I cannot know what it is to be a poor black man, but if another ethnicity were employed, say my own, I would have been just as offended.
  
  Ladies and gentlemen, I clearly appreciate the satire and the irony; these comedians are indeed observant, incisive, brilliant. I simply felt the skit lost something, was flawed. The use of ethnic color detracted from what I interpreted as the theme of the skit. Yes, I know it was satire. Yes, I appreciate that it was a means to implicate racist thought. But I don't have to agree that it was completely effective. In my view, the target of the satire was the absurdity of the system -- loans made to people who cannot repay them, thus, the introduction of a skin color was not the most effective way of communicating the nonsensical systemic behaviors in the transfer of financial risk. If the comedians also wanted to take a swipe at racism, so be it, but I think it ended up watering down the message, and spraying too-broad a target, rather than piercing the center of the dartboard.
  Obviously mine is not the majority on this.

  To Edward, please do not think I feel, for even a moment, that Mr. Byrd and Mr. Fortune have even an ounce of racist leanings. I am sorry that such an implication could be gleaned from my criticism of such a small part of the piece. Having never seen their work, I then watched some of the other streams offered up by commenter Ireland. Indeed, Byrd and Fortune have actually found another fan in me.

  To Susy, I certainly am not generalizing about the gentlemen nor anyone else, as I do not suggest they are racist at all, just that the humor was not perfectly conceived. We have different perspectives and I respect your feelings on this.

  To mohammed, that was poetically stated. Quite.

  To bkm, I laughed out loud over your line, "I thought I entered a critical studies course." Now that we're up to 20 comments, you must be pulling your hair out.

  Indeed, I suppose it's time to return to matters at hand. Anything going on with Wall Street lately? : )

  Cheers.
  F.

  Published: October 1, 2008 3:46 PM

• Walt D.

  Franklin said
  
  What provoked my comment was that the actor's illustration employed skin color to epitomize the borrower who was provided the high risk mortgage.
  
  I understand why you would view this as racist. However, CRA mandated that skin color and ethnicity be considered as a factor in the lending process. Unfortunately, this led to people who qualified on this basis only being preyed upon, and ultimately victimized.
  
  What I find racist and offensive is that while stereotypically rich white Wall Street is being bailed out, no such consideration is being given to poor ethnic victims.

  Published: October 1, 2008 4:32 PM