Synopsis

Drawing its inspiration from economist Steve Horwitz's Parable of the Broken Traffic Lights, MPI fellow Dorian Electra's Fa$t Ca$h: Easy Credit and the Economic Crash reveals the disastrous effects that monetary easing has had on our economy.

In a free economy, interest rates, much like traffic lights, coordinate the behavior of producers and consumers. But when the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to stimulate a sluggish economy, savings decline, consumption goes up, and investment increases all at the same time. All traffic lights simultaneously turn green, and the economy enters a credit-driven boom. Consumers live beyond their means while producers invest for the future on the basis of demand that does not exist -- but the euphoria of the boom is short-lived, because the surge of cheap money only leads inexorably to an economic crash.

Fa$t Ca$h is a catchy dance track and colorful music video with a serious message: It concisely explains how these stimulus policies are not only disastrous, but unsustainable--and shows how market-based reform is urgently needed to stabilize our economy.