Finding Humor in Economic Distress

During the great depression, I’m told Hollywood produced happy movies and musicals.  The purpose was to provide temporary relief from grimness.

Judging from today’s mix of heavy drama and high action, Hollywood’s current movies must have been conceived and financed when the market was in the highest period of optimism. Shortly, we might expect some lighter fare musicals and comedy to lighten our current grief. 

In the meanwhile, economic jokes are spreading wild.  

Example: 

Man walks into bar and says to his male friends:  “This market turn down is worse than a divorce.”  “How come?” his buddies ask.  “Well, I’ve only got half of my money…and I still have my wife.”

….

A man calls his bank to ask about the overdraft notice he received in the morning mail.  This was his question: 

Does this mean I over-drafted my account at your bank, or that your bank over-drafted other banks or the government?

….

An 80 year-old man wrote this to his close friend:

It used to be that the second thing I looked at in the paper was the obituary column and I was always elated if none of my friends were LISTED.   Now the second thing I look at is the financial page and I’m equally elated if none of my stocks were DELISTED.

….

It use to be a claim that most of the contemporary jokes came from either jail prisoners or people who worked for brokerage firms.  The way things look now there could be a lot of crossovers.  Here’s hoping Hollywood can find a higher class of humor for its light escapist movies we can expect in the immediate future.