I agree and have it in front of me. In the first frame the narration says "According to the experts, the American economy has achived *full employment* -- meaning, as we recently heard a network news correspondent enthusiastically explain, that these days -"
Tomorrow has a talking head say, "--there's a job for *everyone who wants one!*"
in the second frame the narration continues, "Yes, prosperity abounds ... and we're sure all those fully employed people out there flipping burgers and emptying trash cans are just as excited about it as *we* are!"
a lugubrious burger-flipper says, "How fortunate we are to share in our nation's economic abundance."
another one says, "If I am lucky, I may have enough money left over at the end of the month to go see a *movie!* I might even be able to afford *popcorn!*
in the third frame the narration continues, "Of course, this unbridled good fortune *does* make *Alan Greenspan* a bit nervous ..."
There's a drawing of a scowling Greenspan reading the paper, saying/thinking "Millions of previously unemployed Americans now have lousy jobs paying barely enough to survive? This is *terrible!* I've got to raise interest rates *immediately!*
In the last frame, the narration continues, "But we shouldn't be too hard on the man ... after all, he just wants to keep unemployment at a nice, safe level -- so the party can continue for the *rest* of us!"
A news commentator says, "Coming up next -- we go live to the 79th street basin for undeniable proof that a rising tide lifts *all boats!* Except um, for the ones that sink."
another one says, "First, these messages."
--------------------- Also in yesterday's New York Times there was a movie review of _The Ninth Gate_ in which it's suggested that Satan might be a socialist. In Europe or South America this might not be so strange, but in mainstream America, I think, even the mention of socialists is a rarity.
New York Times/ March 10, 2000 'The Ninth Gate': Off to Hell in a Handbasket, Trusty Book in Hand by Elvis Mitchell
For those with an interest in seeing a dinner-theater version of "Eyes Wide Shut," then look no further. Roman Polanski's "Ninth Gate," with its wizened decadence -- Darius Khondji's velveteen cinematography looks as if it came out of Rembrandt's Fotomat -- and its tired stabs at comedy, is calling your name.
Frank Langella, wearing a hairpiece that is most assuredly from the Stygian depths of Hell, is Boris Balkan, a wealthy and therefore evil collector of Devil-inspired antiquities who hires Dean Corso (Johnny Depp), a weedy rogue book dealer, to locate a volume called "The Nine Gates."
You can tell that Corso is a rebel kind of book dealer: he smokes as he pores over vintage tomes and he doesn't wear gloves to keep his skin oils from the delicate pages. Balkan hires Corso to find the volume that will unlock the Nine Gates.
The book is so pernicious that it drives an elderly man to hang himself from a noose that doesn't look capable of supporting a pair of socks.
Equipped with debonair slashes of white across the sides of his head, Corso begins a search that will take him over several continents and at least 90 minutes because there are three versions of the book in question. He must ascertain which "Gates" is authentic and stay a step ahead of Liana (Lena Olin), who cuts a striking figure in black; she was born to be a widow. It was her husband who killed himself, driven mad by some intoxicating combination of her fatale figure and having such a horrific tome in his possession.
Aided by his aerodynamic hair detailing, Corso goes from one "Gates" owner to another to check out their copies. He's pursued by a sylph (Emmanuelle Seigner) with the vacant stare and bored pout of a 14-year-old idly channel-surfing in hopes of finding MTV's Carson Daly. She races across Europe after Corso.
Is she on Corso's side? Will Balkan get Satan's powers in his clutches through mastery of "The Nine Gates"? And what about Satan? Since the rich in these Devil-quest spectaculars are always searching for the Devil but often come to a bad end, does this mean he's a socialist? Or perhaps, since money attracts money, that he's a supply-sider? These are questions to be answered sooner or later in an issue of Cahiers du Cinéma. Or The Industry Standard.
In adapting the European slight-fright best seller "El Club Dumas," Mr. Polanski is out to cross "Rosemary's Baby" with his saucy spoof "The Fearless Vampire Killers," but this movie is about as scary as a sock-puppet re-enactment of "The Blair Witch Project," and not nearly as funny.