EconGoneCountry

Supply and demand with a twang

​Think, Pair, Share

Title: Song of the South

​Artist: Alabama

Economic Concepts: Keynesian macroeconomics; Fiscal policy; Spending multiplier; Recessions; Business cycle; Cyclical unemployment; Great Depression

Details: The stage for the video is set with 1930s footage of the Great Plains suffering from the dust bowl and the Great Depression.  The stock market crash occurred in 1929 but had no direct effect on everyday Americans such as farmers.   "Well somebody told us Wall Street fell, but we were so poor that we couldn't tell". 

        With the drought conditions and low commodity prices, times were bleak, "Cotton was short and the weeds were tall".  However, Keynesian Macroeconomic Policy came to the rescue of the American economy via the President of the United States.  "But Mr. Roosevelt's a gonna save us all". 

        During the Great Depression, many farmers lost their land to the bank and were forced to move and find work.  In the song, "The county got the farm and they moved to town.  Pappa got a job with the TVA, he bought a washing machine and then a Chevrolet".  By increasing government spending through fiscal policy, with public works programs such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the government was able to provide jobs for the unemployed and stimulate the economy.  John M. Keynes theorized that lack of spending was the reason the economy was not recovering during the Great Depression and consequently recommended expansionary fiscal policy. 

        The song is also a great example of the spending multiplier, the idea that one dollar of spending will increase GDP by more than one dollar.  When Pappa got a job at the TVA his income rose which allowed him to purchase goods and services.  The first big purchase was a washing machine and then a Chevrolet.  This means that his spending increased income for Whirlpool and Chevrolet, who were likely to hire more workers to meet the new demand for their products, thus furthering the economic expansion.    

Lyrics: 
Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

Cotton on the roadside, cotton in the ditch
We all picked the cotton but we never got rich
Daddy was a veteran, a southern democrat
They oughta get a rich man to vote like that

Sing it

Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

Well somebody told us Wall Street fell
But we were so poor that we couldn't tell
Cotton was short and the weeds were tall
But Mr. Roosevelt's a gonna save us all

Well momma got sick and daddy got down
The county got the farm and they moved to town
Pappa got a job with the TVA
He bought a washing machine and then a Chevrolet

Sing it

Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

Play it

Sing it

Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

Song, song of the south

Gone, gone with the wind

Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.
Song, song of the south.
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth.

Sing it

Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again

Song, song of the south
Sweet potato pie and I shut my mouth
Gone, gone with the wind
There ain't nobody looking back again