Back in May, Powerline announced The Powerline Prize, a $100,000 cash prize to “whoever most effectively and creatively dramatize[d] the seriousness of the federal debt crisis.” Organized in conjunction with The Freedom Club, the prize electrified the conservative blogosphere over the last few months. A few weeks ago, the folks at Powerline began announcing some of the runners up. Then, on August 1, they announced the winner: Justin Folk for a splendid 5-minute animation called “The Spending is Nuts.” It’s a fine piece of work, which you can see here.
“The Spending is Nuts” and Mr. Folk have deservedly received a good deal of praise and attention. But it was another entry for the Powerline Prize that I find haunting me. Remember Ronald Reagan’s pointing out that the nine scariest words in the English language were “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”? To that frightening scenario add a fiscal crisis of unimaginable magnitude: add together, that is, state power and economic emergency. What do you get? This short but brilliant video, by Don Brookins, deftly dramatizes one frightening aspect of the onslaught:
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