So every time we give stimulus money to corporations they hoard it because if they didn’t have it to hoard they would lose money, instead of, you know, spending the money on new employees so those people could have jobs and make money to spend and infuse the whole economy. And I realized I could phrase it in terms of Batman. If this confuses you, replace “Batman” with “Consumer confidence”:

“Without this money we can’t afford Batman!”

“We had Batman?”

“He was protecting the streets. You, uhhh, just couldn’t see him because he’s Batman.”

“But were we safer?”

“Well, of course we were. He’s Batman!”

“But can you prove that?”

“Batman!”

“So, no?”

“If you want to get rid of Batman, fine, we will. But then you won’t have any Batman to protect you.”

“Can we even prove he was here?”

“Hello? Batman! If you saw him then he wouldn’t be Batman, would he?”

It’s much like the MTA’s scare tactics in fare hikes. First they give you a fare hike warning. Then they “accidentally leak” a notice about a way worse fare hike. When everyone flips out about it they recant the extra scary one, hoping you’ll be all “Whew” about the first fare hike. Like this:

“We’re going to put wild bears in your living room.”

“WHAT?!”

“All right. No bears. Manticores.”

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

“Oh, you don’t want the manticores?”

“Who the fuck wants a manticore?!”

“Well. I suppose we can just put the bears in your living room instead.”

“Can we put neither? Is neither an option?”

“I got bears and I got manticores.”

“This isn’t… wait, didn’t I just approve Batman? To you? Isn’t this were Batman comes and saves me?”

“He hates bears.”

“Batman hates bears?”

“And manticores. You’re on your own. So. Choose.”

Yes. Economics as explained by Batman, bears and manticores.