Captain Sig Hansen joins Jon Stewart’s Daily Show to discuss life on an Alaska fishing boat. Hailed as the deadliest job in America, Hansen and his crew can earn tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days so long as the crew is willing to risk their lives. Jon discusses safety on the boats and the motivation for why an individual would risk their lives.
Colorful stickers have become de facto currency on the playground. TJ can’t buy things because he doesn’t have any stickers even though his friends have them. Because of the increase in demand, the local shop owner doesn’t even have any stickers left.
TJ decides to start working in order to earn more stickers to buy things. When he gets tired of doing labor for stickers, he turns into a managerial role and begins delegating tasks to other kids who needs stickers. When TJ collects nearly all of the Monstickers on the playground, the kids aren’t able to actually purchase anythings. Eventually, Monstickers become obsolete and the playground converts to Lick ‘n’ Stick Alien Stamps and the Monstickers become useless.
I heard this one on the radio and forgot that I used it one semester online to talk about structural unemployment. This could also be a good song to play before class if you play music before you begin your lecture. I may be a bit more fortunate since I teach in Pennsylvania.
Two potential sailors come aboard the Pequod to inquire about becoming joining the crew. Peleg asks why any man would want to become a sailor when the conditions are so rough. He works through the requirements of being a sailor to make sure the men are willing to undergo through strenuous conditions. The reason whalers were so well-paid at the time was because the risk of death aboard the ship.
Here’s a good interview from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the captain of a fishing boat on the show Deadliest Catch.
One of the main characters just changed the value of the international currency to be zero which has the effect of causing all money to be worthless. The clip focuses on the president of the galactic federation and his aides discussing what to do about the sudden lack of money when the aides realize that without any money they won’t get paid and that they refuse to work for nothing. The president comes up with a solution that involves blowing his brains out with a handy space pistol.
Thanks for the summary and clip Ben Kupp!
In the beginning of the clip Rachel tells Ross that she got her old job back at Ralph Lauren. Ross asks if she is still going to take the job in Paris (which she was offered in the previous episode) since she was hired back at her old job. Rachel says she still wants to go to Paris because when the people at Loui Vuitton found out Ralph Lauren wanted her back they decided to offer her more money. This clip is a good example of opportunity cost, which is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. If Rachel wouldn’t have chosen, the job in Paris she would have been missing out on more money than if she would have stayed. Since she is taking the job in Paris her opportunity cost is that she will have to leave her friends and family.
Thanks Kailey Werkheiser for the clip and the summary!
Homer has had about 100 jobs during his many years on television and Vox writers have analyzed his work life. If you plan on using a lot of Simpsons clips throughout your course, they may be a good introduction for students unfamiliar with the show.
Jackson’s grandfather dies and leaves him a very large inheritance, $250 million to be exact. Jackson feels like this is a burden for personal reasons, but Maggie chimes in that it is a burden because it’s hard to know how to spend that much money. She goes through all the things he could do with it and how having that many options can be tiring. This is a classic example of the overchoice problem where consumers can become overwhelmed with options. There is small note in Maggie’s speech where she says that Jackson could buy a vineyard and never work again, which would be reflective of a pure income effect.
When Mr. Pulitzer decides to raise prices in the distribution channel by forcing the newsies (the newspaper boys) to pay higher prices for a pack of 100 papers, the newsies decide to go on strike. Without raising the price to the final consumer, the price increase essentially just lowers the profits the newsies can collect. They decide to go on strike and create a newsies union to have more monopoly power in the process.
In his 2007 special, Spark of Insanity, ventriloquist Jeff Dunham brings his trust “side stick” Jose Jalapeño on stage to discuss immigration. Jeff decides to ask how Jose feels about the increased presence of National Guard agents along the Mexico/US border, but Jose notes that he isn’t too concerned about it. Peanut quickly points on that Jose isn’t worried because Jose is already in the country. Increased presence of border protection doesn’t do much to curtail illegal immigrants already in the country.