Drea's Stimulus Package

In today's column, Paul Krugman notes that Obama is calling for ideas on how to stimulate the economy. Krugman has his advice; I have mine. I thought of this when I became a "fan" of The Young Ones on Facebook today. You see, I am the proud by impotent owner of the full Young Ones VHS set. Impotent because, like many other Americans, I know longer have a working VCR. 

What I need is The Young Ones on DVD, and also on digital download, and also whatever the next "platform" or "medium" is for delivering awesome British comedy. I also need the Decalogue.  Until I receive my share of the Cultural Recovery Funds,  I can only wonder about which of the Ten Commandments is best illustrated in this Polish mini-series by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

In other words, my stimulus proposal is to have the government buy our favorite movies and music in its most current format. This will be targeted towards the individual consumer as well as the music and entertainment industries. The former, in particular, has been in perilous freefall because people no longer buy LPs, cassettes or even CDs.  Some might argue that giving taxpayer dollars to Vyvyan Bastard or a dead Polish director may not be well-spent. But this rescue plan will both reflect the global nature of this economic crisis as well as the need to become more international in our cultural tastes. Plus, I also need Personal Best by Team Dresch (currently have on vinyl) and Super Fly by Missy Elliott (on cassette tape), which spreads the wealth to indie rockers in Portland and hip hop stars in Virginia. 

That's all I ask. It should cost about $142 if purchased on Amazon. Multiply that by the number of adults in the US (223 million, I estimate) and it will only cost $31 billion to implement my idea. This is small potatoes when you consider the kind of cash being thrown at BANKS, who already have money. Anyway, how do you want your Cultural Recovery Funds spent?