This animation (conical hat tip to LRC) is funny – but the perspective it represents is part of the problem. The assumption behind the clip is that big business is in favour of “capitalism” (which in this context is clearly supposed to mean the free market) when times are good, but in favour of government handouts when times are bad.
No – big business is against the free market and in favour of government-granted privilege all the time. If by “capitalism” you mean the free market, it’s always “clap off”; if by “capitalism” you mean the prevailing corporatism, it’s always “clap on.”
Hey, I remember the original 1980s commercial this is a parody of!
http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/18/
I didn’t think it was that much remembered compared to more famous ads of the time like the Energizer Bunny or Grey Poupon or “Where’s the beef?”, but it’s charming in it’s own cheesy way.
I’ve got to say, that I’ve seen so many clueless leftist cartoons about big business fat cats *cough*Huck and Konopacki*cough* that one that gets it half right is about half as wrong as I’m used to. And it’s true that the more superficial forms of intervention — particular tax cuts, pieces of pork and the like — are more intermittent than the more subtle forms that few pay attention to.