How To Skin A Cat

Hüsker Dü was another 80's band who made an impression on me. Here's a song that pays forward, perfectly capturing the perpetual motion machine (something for nothing) aspect of modern economics.

We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing

At the time, I think the Hüskers thought they were mocking capitalism somehow. I see the modern lesson in terms of Obama era economics--the hopeless jump starting of the private sector using public sector command economics.

I put the lyrics below the video window because they're almost inaudible and yet are the whole song.

We are starting a cat ranch and taking one hundred thousand cats
Each cat will average twelve kittens a year
The catskins will sell for thirty cents each
One hundred men could skin five thousand cats a day
We could be dealing a profit of over ten thousand dollars
But what should we feed the cats?
We will start a rat ranch next door with a million rats
The rats will breed twelve times faster than the cats
So we can have more rats to feed each day for each cat
But what should we feed the rats?
We will feed the rats...the carcases of the cats
After they have been skinned
Now get this!
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
We feed the rats the carcases of the cats
After they have been skinned
We feed the rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing
Rats to the cats and the cats to the rats
And get the catskins for nothing....