This week, we double-check Damon’s budgeting math, and envy deeply the tenured Columbia professor in the 1950’s we all wish that we were.

We’d give you a spoiler warning, buuuuut… let’s be real, no one’s watching John Wick movies for the plot. You’re watching it for the bonkers money system! OBVIOUSLY.

Poor Santos L. Halper, living in a pre-internet age. It’s going to take him a really long time to figure out how badly Bart has ruined his life.

No spoilers! Except for when Liz makes wild, outlandish guesses about what Baby Yoda’s deal is. (She’s since seen the show all the way through.)

Well, here’s what happens when cold and flu season hits your co-host and editor. Here’s a Merry Holidays episode to keep you in the holiday spirit even now in the dead grossness of winter. Today, we talk about bank runs, dumb uncles, and growing a small business!

On a more serious note, this time of year can be very hard for many people, and while we kid and joke about the subject matter of this movie (which is, itself, presented very lightly), if you or someone you know and love needs help, we encourage you to get it. You’re worth it. Please call the National Suicide Prevention hotline for help at 1-800-273-8255. Be safe and have a happy wintertime!

Yes, that’s right, part three. Today we discuss: Unemployment. It’s like magnets: no one knows how it really works. 

Today we dig deep into video rental stores and daytime television actor salaries to answer that age-old question: How much was the Rose family actually worth, anyway?

That’s right, friends! Make-Believe Money has returned, although now on a new, baby-tolerant bi-weekly schedule. (Bi-weekly here meaning, “once every two weeks,” not that other meaning of bi-weekly. Honestly, it’s really dumb that that word means both of those things…)

SO! To welcome us back, we begin by dissecting Dan’s paternity-leave show of choice, Schitt’s Creek! In this episode- How does one buy a town?

Oh, HELLO, friends! We’re still on hiatus, but not for much longer! To tide you over, and to whet your appetite for more nonsense from us fools, here’s a quick lil mailbag, where we answer all your drinking game-related questions!

Thanks for writing in, friends! If you have a question you’d like answered, shoot us a line at makebelievemoneypodcastATgmailDOTcom.

Hey Friends! We’re on a bit of a late-summer break, as you maybe have noticed, but we’ll be back! In the meantime, please enjoy us getting REAL sad about the cost of college in America.

Subscribe in your podcatcher of choice to keep updated on when we’re back in action, and expect some fun nonsense coming through your feed soon!

Recording issue days are behind us, folks! Here, new and improved, is our podcast! Today, we discuss the money in the banana stand. 

Because of a technical SNAFU, we three wise guys are bringing you a fun rebroadcast: a Christmas Movie in July! Enjoy this cool-weather throwback in these hot times (assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere, of course. Shout out to our southern hemisphere wintertime buddies!)

You’re on the wrong side of the podcast! Listen to this weeks episode where Damon faithfully recounts the events of 1999’s The Mummy. Also Dan and Liz talk about money.

I mean… It’s one banana, Michael. How much could it cost? Ten dollars?

This is not the show with Mandy Moore and the killer crock pot. It IS the show with some bad ideas about credit cards and teens.

P.S. Liz couldn’t figure out what that John Ritter movie was, but she knows she’s seen it at some point in her life.

Everyone has a Bane impression. No one, not even Tom Hardy, has a GOOD Bane impression.

Why so serious? Because it’s a CRIME. Duh.

Any day now, the Quaid-aissance is gonna happen. Mark our words!

Today we talk about the many crimes of Clark Griswald, if we can remember his name.

Today, we talk about what the heck Eminent Domain is, but mostly we use it as an excuse to discuss a very delightful John Goodman film.

Today, in part Two of our Tom Cruise Double Feature, we learn that sometimes, when it comes to water damage in your dad’s fancy car, you just gotta say, “KIT.”

Welcome to another episode where Liz asks Dan to research something that could well put him on some kind of watch list. How much is a CIA agent’s undercover identity worth? Dan tells us from jail! (JK, please don’t arrest us!)

Do you remember that Heath Ledger movie we were all super crazy about when it came out, that’s now on TBS somewhere at all times? There’s not actually a lot of plot to that movie, come to think of it, but there IS a lot of money. How much would a medieval professional athlete make, we ponder?

We talk energy this episode! And also bad movie math! And also, the exact moment Damon’s childhood died!

Today we discuss just how dang big the Pentagon is, how much energy Liz and Damon’s apartment uses versus how much a Stargate might need, and how far into space you could get with a Jeep that powers a Stargate.

Remember back in the day, when a cultural TV moment was on network TV, and we all watched it, and theorized about what could be happening, and read recaps in actual magazines to try and figure out the ending? To a show with absolutely no dragons involved?

Yeah, we talk about Lost. But not about the Smoke Monster (TM), just about how divorce works.

Thanks again to Pat for guesting this week, and providing his Lost expertise!

Spoilers ahoy! We aren’t precious with the spoilers this time, friends. We talk about everything that’s happened on the TV show, so if you’re trying to preserve your first viewing for some beautiful future day when all the books are done… well… first, don’t hold your breath.

But more specifically, today we talk Littlefinger, and whether he’s a savvy businessman, or a desperate man trying to keep a nation from collapsing under him. Porque no los dos?

Have you ever wondered just how much money a “personal wipe fortune” might amount to? Or maybe how much money Pierce Hawthorne must have had to go through community college for literally all of his twilight years?

Well. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of money. More details inside!

Thanks so much to this week’s special guest, our good buddy Pat!

Look, there’s like a THOUSAND leisurely-beachy-criminals-solving-crimes dramas from like TBS and TNT and whatever. So it makes perfect sense that Liz would know exactly none of them.

We’ve got opinions, folks! We discuss how a horror movie should be, how people should store their precious art, and how nobody seems to know how taxes work. Woo!

Yeah, there’s no way that kid’s gonna wanna grow up for real.

Another foray in the world of literature, this time we talk magical college, how to pronounce words you’ve only ever seen written, and a deep dive into what a higher education will one day mean for our children’s generation. Light and breezy!

Welcome to another episode of, “That’s Not How Insurance Works!”

SPOILERS AHEAD! But now this movie’s on Netflix, so go give it a watch!

Man, those kids are trying way too hard to escape adults who are definitely not looking for them.

Damon was too close to the mic, and Dr. Suess came up with the word, “nerd,” so, Liz is always right.

Man, comedies pre-9/11 were so simple, no complicated emotional journeys, just murder, nazis, betting on human lives, squirrel farms, poop emergencies, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Back by popular demand, our darling Bob Belcher and his quirky family! This time, can they even afford to be selling their special burgers so cheaply? Honestly, $5.95 is not that much for a very fancy burger, Bob. You need to value yourself and your hard work. What would Danny DeVito say?

Today we talk travel expenses, dysentery, and careful avoidance of slander lawsuits!

Hello and welcome to 2019, friends! Today we talk about why Netflix won’t just let us keep watching a show without shaming us for bingeing, whether or not Dan would survive a game of Jumanji, and, more to the point, whether or not Jacqueline can survive with a meager $12M, post-divorce.

Merry Holidays, y’all! This year, we’re giving you the gift of the three of us realizing that sometimes 80’s comedies just don’t really hold up 30+ years later.  But we did it! We finally did the episode that Damon had been pining for the entire time we’ve been doing this show. You’re welcome?

This week, we talk about the reason for the season- buying the hot kid’s toy and selling it at an incredible markup. Thanks, Dwight!

Matilda must be stopped AT ALL COSTS!

How much would YOU pay for magic hairspray?

If you’ve never watched this movie, you have Dan to thank.

Listen as Dan experiences the time crime of a mid-season break and an Olympics Special Episode! Also, we talk about unions.

Linda’s got big dreams, and an even bigger shoe!

…do you remember the dial-up noise?

What’s that? Dr. Evil doesn’t understand the value of a gigantic, international terrorcrime? Well, groovy, baby!

Get ready for a spoooooOOOOooooOOOoooky time, where we talk about whether or not your landlord/real estate agent/whatever has to tell you if your house is haunted. Sleep well!

credit where credit is due, The Amityville Horror theme was written by Lalo Schifrin, and the Halloween theme song was written by John Carpenter. All copyright remains with them and their respective movie studios.

Happy One Year of Make Believe Money, listeners! As a gift to you, we only talk about stool softeners just the TINIEST bit this episode. Thanks for listening!

It’s hard to have a reasonable discussion about supply and demand when Arnold accidentally rallies the kids to overturn your ice cream truck. But in fairness, nobody’s paying $15 for rum raisin, Jolly Olly Man.

NEEEEEWWWWMAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!

Turns out, just shouting, “I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY,” doesn’t quite cover it.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Fry. You lost the woman of your dreams, but you still have Zoidberg. YOU ALL STILL HAVE ZOIDBERG!”

This one goes out to all our fellow office drones, especially those of you who, ahh, are gonna need to just go ahead and come in Sunday, too. Oh, and remember: next Friday… is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to, go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.

For your reading enjoyment (?): Qooking With Qream.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, we finally found the thing that’d break Dan! *whistles melodically*

“Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.”

Hey, you wanna hear a knock-knock joke?

Years before Batman VS. Superman made us all collectively groan forever, before the Marvel universe took over every media we consume, there was a gritty reboot. The first of its kind, a game-changer that launched a thousand grimdark superhero franchises: Batman Begins. An exciting, hard-hitting action-drama superhero movie that made everyone’s heads turn back toward comic books.

And we’re gonna talk about the boring businessy stuff in it. Hey, we’re not the podcast you need, we’re the podcast you deserve.

This week, we talk about how Pixar movies are emotionally traumatizing, but also Beanie Babies and Magic: The Gathering!

AHEM: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048414/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t24

Joined this week by fabulous guest, Emily, we talk about how to scam the IRS (don’t!), and how Dee totally DOESN’T do it right (even though you should not!).

AHEM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_(1994_film)

You might think this episode is a bit of a White-Russian-fueled mess, but, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.

LISTEN HERE!

This week, to make a long story very short (too late!), we talk about liability insurance, blackmail, and the cost of running a murder mystery theater. Three endings! Also, this is the second in a series of episodes where we drink a drink specialty while we talk, so things. Start. To get. SLOPPY!

On a more serious note, if you are having thoughts about self-harm, you should know that you can and should seek help. Please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, at 1-800-273-8255.

Nope, it’s not a tool for satanic recruitment. But if your characters aren’t careful, you could plunge the whole world of your game into a crippling economic nightmare. Also, we talk about the richest man in all of history. Nope, it’s not Jeff Bezos.

Notes!

Mansa Musa, The Richest Dude Ever

That’s right, Monopoly! The board game that has very little to do with actual monopolies, and very MUCH to do with why you don’t speak to your Aunt Tabitha anymore.

Our Harry Potter expert-in-residence, AJ is here again, but this time to talk about the thing he really knows a ton about- Harry Potter! (Duh!) In FACT, he knows so much about good ole HP that he totally pokes a hole right in Dan’s very fragile episode concept.

SO! We talk about Owls, how many wizards and witches exist in the world, how many of those wizards and witches are psychopaths, and whether or not everything is government subsidized. And we strategize about how NEXT time we have a guest, we’ll be sure to vet our topic with them first.

(No spoilers for the new one! When we recorded this one, we hadn’t seen it yet!)

Joined for the first time by a fabulous guest, our good buddy AJ, we talk again about private islands and military research funding, but this time with the added bonus of Dan’s name being forever on a CIA watch list, after he googled the costs of a number of bits of large military equipment! Dan makes this sacrifice so we can tell you just how much it might cost for Syndrome to make that big ole robot guy happen. Was it worth it, putting the three of us on the no-fly list forever? Eh, who knows! We do it for you, folks!

REVIEW CONTEST UPDATE:
At the time of recording, we hadn’t yet been able to pull our winner, but rest assured, sometime in July we’ll be announcing who gets to put Dan’s charity money where his mouth is! (Or… something to that effect.) Stay tuned!

Seems like all we need to make the world great is a little bit of compassion and love, and also Arc Reactor technology. This week, we discuss just how drastically Tony Stark’s invention would change the world of energy as we know it.

REVIEW CONTEST FINAL WEEK!
Make-Believe Money relies on your reviews and ratings on Apple Podcasts to get us more listeners, which will help us make more podcasts (it’s a whole circle-of-life kinda thing). So! In the next week, if you rate AND REVIEW us on Apple Podcasts (and the review part is important, since we can’t see who rated us, only who reviewed us!) you’ll be entered into a random drawing. If you win, Dan, in a totally magnanimous gesture, has pledged $50 to be given to a charity of your choice!

(Obviously within reason- this podcast is definitely anti-hate groups, and we’re not gonna send money to a politician for you, but otherwise! Save some dolphins, or feed the hungry, or help some convicts get back on their feet! The world’s your oyster!)

And again, you gotta leave us a review to be eligible for the competition- feel free to say whatever you’d like, but hopefully you like us like we like you! Enter here!

A best-selling novel, and now a TV show (with mixed reviews, if you ask Liz and Damon), American Gods is the story of Shadow Moon, a newly released convict being thrown headfirst into the world of the gods. Turns out, Old Gods are super into bank grifts. This week, we talk about conning ATMs (which you should not do), and how much a (hypothetical, fictional god) person could make from one lil grift.

REVIEW CONTEST WEEK TWO!
Make-Believe Money relies on your reviews and ratings on Apple Podcasts to get us more listeners, which will help us make more podcasts (it’s a whole circle-of-life kinda thing). So! In the next week, if you rate AND REVIEW us on Apple Podcasts (and the review part is important, since we can’t see who rated us, only who reviewed us!) you’ll be entered into a random drawing. If you win, Dan, in a totally magnanimous gesture, has pledged $50 to be given to a charity of your choice!

(Obviously within reason- this podcast is definitely anti-hate groups, and we’re not gonna send money to a politician for you, but otherwise! Save some dolphins, or feed the hungry, or help some convicts get back on their feet! The world’s your oyster!)

And again, you gotta leave us a review to be eligible for the competition- feel free to say whatever you’d like, but hopefully you like us like we like you! Enter here!

In this episode, we discuss custody battles, how much Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson’s characters might have been worth, and how totally and completely immoral it is to just be like, “Eh, twins are basically just carbon copies, so you give me one and you take one and we’ll never speak of this again.”

REVIEW CONTEST!
Make-Believe Money relies on your reviews and ratings on Apple Podcasts to get us more listeners, which will help us make more podcasts (it’s a whole circle-of-life kinda thing). So! In the next two weeks, if you rate AND REVIEW us on Apple Podcasts (and the review part is important, since we can’t see who rated us, only who reviewed us!) you’ll be entered into a random drawing. If you win, Dan, in a totally magnanimous gesture, has pledged $50 to be given to a charity of your choice!

(Obviously within reason- this podcast is definitely anti-hate groups, and we’re not gonna send money to a politician for you, but otherwise! Save some dolphins, or feed the hungry, or help some convicts get back on their feet! The world’s your oyster!)

And again, you gotta leave us a review to be eligible for the competition- feel free to say whatever you’d like, but hopefully you like us like we like you! Enter here!

Obvs no spoilers, friends, since this film wasn’t even in theaters yet at the time of this recording. We don’t know much about what happens, but we DO know there’s a big ole necklace involved, and it is valued at an ABSURD amount of money. So this week, we talk the value of diamonds, gems, and Ocean’s 11-13.

In our possibly highest-rated epsiode ever, we talk park passes and coupons and how to score a good deal going to what’s basically Dinosaur Murder Island!

NOTES

Music Sourced From Archive.Org

It’s tough devoting your life to your country, doubly so when you’ve gotten frozen in the Arctic after being injected with super soldier serum and doing your best to save the world from a big ole bomb. But at least Steve Rogers has his back pay to look forward to, right? Right?

Look, y’all. No one’s a Samantha.

Hello, We’re Make-Believe Money, and this is our son and partner, Daniel. He’s here to tell you about oil prices, and how the oil boom was perhaps not quite as impressive as you might guess. Spoilers in this one, but… this movie’s been out for a while, and also, it’s hard to spoil what’s basically a very long tone poem. You’ll be FINE.

No Spoilers! You can safely listen to this episode without anything being ruined for you. Except maybe the idea of investing in cryptocurrency. That might get a little ruined for you. That’s right! A half a year of episodes in, and we’ve finally gotten Dan to talk about Bitcoin! He probably will NEVER talk about it again, so get your fill now!

Imagine if you will, working and scraping and saving all your money, every hard-earned rupee of it, and saving it in earthenware jars that your grandfather made, kept safe in your home, so that one day you can give your son a better life than you yourself had. AND THEN ONE DAY, a man in a too-short outfit shows up, grabs your priceless heirlooms, smashes them into your wall, steals your rupees, and runs off, with nary a grunt of thank you! Later you learn he was trying to save the princess, but like, what good is THAT when Timothy wants to go to college, amirite?

This week, IS Link the hero of this story? And also, how to save your money in a fantasy world run by an evil smokey pig-man named Ganondorf!

Get ready to get hella nerdy up in here, friends. We’re talking board games, the kind that Megan won’t let Dan have more of until they have more space. Not your grandma’s board games, either (although we’ll get to Clue eventually). Nope, we’re talking Settlers of Catan! And also arbitrage. What’s that, you ask? Is arbitrage something a pirate does in court? A feeling that’s a combination of anger and confusion? A country in South America? NOPE, it’s something totally different!

What would YOU do if a giant set of monsters with disturbingly ordinary names ransacked your town? What if a bunch of superheroes busted your apartment with their mighty powers, in service of saving the world from an alien invader? Does your insurance cover that? Dan helps us prepare for literal acts of gods.

ALSO! If you would like to donate to help the people of Puerto Rico rebuild and get back on their feet (many people are still in dire need of help), check out this link for donation opportunities. https://hispanicfederation.org/unidos

Two roads diverged in a digital wood, and Damon and Liz decided we’d talk about Bitcoin another time. This time: microtransactions and how the world would run if we all lived in Oasis. It’ll make you wanna delete your game apps!

Hey guys, did you know that Liz doesn’t know what ponies are? Neither did she until this episode! But we don’t just talk about that- we discuss leasing horses, looking gift horses in the mouth, and what kind of mileage you should expect to get on your used horse.

#horsefacts

Credit card debt can be a real bummer, friends. Especially if your partner has a TON of it, and you don’t find out until you go to apply for a mortgage. Listen as we talk about credit card utilization, Marshall and Lily’s relationship, and whether or not Barney Stinson can exist in today’s world.

Show Notes!

Dan may not believe it, but this is totally a part two for our Hamilton episode. Let’s talk guaranteed income, aging populations, not very woke movies, and how a group of feral children could possibly grow up to be Michael York.

Show Notes!

Okay, so it might not teeeecchnically be fiction, but admit it. You’re as in love with Hamilton as we all are! And don’t you wanna know what blackmail money from the 1700’s would look like inflated for today’s world? Absolutely you do, that’s why you listen!

Show Notes Here!

Seems kinda obvious, when you think about it, for us to talk about Blank Check, the 90’s kids’ movie that was clearly meant to be watched only by children and never scrutinized by their adult guardians. With both questionable moral content AND a poor understanding of how much $1 Million will get you, Blank Check has it all! Listen as Dan gives good non-advice about how to handle your money, and how dang hard it is to buy a house in this day and age!

I mean… Ferris is a bad friend. And possibly a sociopath? But Cameron’s dad is uptight and spent waaaay too much on a car, sooo… who’s the REAL bad guy here?

Check out this week’s episode as we find out just how much their little truancy trip to Chicago cost Cameron, from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!

This week, listen as Damon and Dan slowly horrify Liz as they recount the economic and moral realities of a desolate, post-war apocalypse, where one must trap and ruthlessly train animals in order to survive. Where water is scarce, and there’s no real way to be a pacifist.

Or, you know. Pokemon.

Is this game fun? Liz will have to play it one day to find out.

Ohhh man, get ready for more #saltfacts!

Delight! As Dan discusses whether or not this very-complicated-to-assemble children’s board game has any bearing on what actual life might be like! Thrill! As Damon and Liz both learn over the course of this podcast that they actually have no idea how to play the real game of life! Wonder! If the three of these goons will ever stop talking about Careers, a game that, while easier to assemble, doesn’t age well!

In today’s episode, we give you some very Not Real (TM) advice about what to do when you receive an unexpected windfall, like say, I dunno, a magical lamp with a genie who may be stuck in a weird loop out of time?

But mostly we talk about how much we dislike the song, “The Morning Report.” Yup. From Lion King.

Great Scott! Guess how many times each of our hosts has seen this movie! The number is probably either very surprising, or very UNsurprising, depending on how well you know them.

This week, we discuss just how dang rich our old bully Biff turns out to be, as he uses a VERY detailed sports almanac to make his riches in the past.

Hello children! Welcome to the magical corporation run by an eccentric misanthrope, where all your candy dreams and nightmares can come true! Enjoy the magical tour through the facility, but don’t you DARE touch ANYTHING, or SO HELP ME…

Listen as Dan grimaces his way through this episode, teaching us how the very strange Wonka corporation might work (or NOT work).

Listener feedback and questions and #saltfacts abound, so here’s a little bonus and the first of our many Mailbag episodes! Enjoy other people’s opinions!

Woo, we made it to episode ten! Listen to us discuss single-resource economies and how we all wish we knew Black Panther a little bit better than we do! Good thing it comes out in theaters soon, so we can all catch up.

Merry Holidays, y’all! We talk the hubris of Clark Griswold and his Christmas lights that can be seen from space. Would he be able to actually afford to run lights bright enough to cause a crisis at the power plant? How do you read an electric meter? Why does this movie make Liz so dang uncomfortable?

All this and more on this episode!

Notes:

Dan’s spreadsheet!

Yippee Ki-Yay, We like to PARTY!

Does the Nakitomi corporation and the city of LA lose more money letting John McClane fight bad guys in his bare feet than if they just let Alan Rickman and the other fancy Germans get away with all the money and blow up the building? Is Nakitomi just a front for a very large scale crime ring? Does Damon know how much buildings are worth?

Learn these things and more on this episode!

NOTES:

Dan’s Spreadsheets! (Be nice, he worked hard!) This includes links to all of Dan’s sources, plus an overwhelming amount of money!

Is the little provincial town that Belle’s from living removed from time, in an egg-based economy? Is Gaston their prince? Listen to us discuss the Town That France Forgot!

NOTES

Correction! Liz was wrong, Perrault didn’t write Le Belle et Le Bete, it was actually written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve. BOO, LIZ.

The Beauty and the Beast Christmas Special, if you dare.

Certainly a man who doesn’t half-ass two things when he could whole-ass one thing knows how to plan for his retirement and the financial security of his kids. But Parks and Rec’s Ron Swanson takes things to another level entirely. Dan digs up the dirt (err… gold?) on Ron Swanson’s secret buried savings!

How much gold could one public servant possibly save, after all?

NOTES

Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Outlook Handbook”

Parks and Rec Wiki, “Duke Silver”

Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, “All Your Worth”

OnlyGold.Com, “Historical Gold Prices”

Welcome to the episode where we finish recording and go right off to jail! Dan teaches Liz and Damon how to do cook books and do crime*, a la Andy Deuxfrain…. Doofrain?… Dufresne.

*but then we don’t do crime, and neither should you. We offer no advice and we take no responsibility! No criming allowed!

And as always, thanks very much to Charlsey Miller for our theme song! Check out her music (and buy some of her albums!) at CharlseyMiller.com

Harry Potter’s world is certainly very magical, but not incredibly economically practical. Is Ollivander charging wizards and witches enough for their wands, or is he destined to go out of business? Is it possible that everything in the Wizarding World is government subsidized? This is part one of a non-consecutive, ongoing collection of Harry Potter-themed episodes.

Have you finished bingeing the second season of Stranger Things? Don’t worry, no spoilers here! When we recorded this, we had no idea what a hero Steve would turn out to be. What we DID know was that those kids stole a bunch of salt to make Eleven’s sensory-deprivation-kiddie-pool, and SOMEONE was going to have to pay for that. How much could salt possibly cost, you ask? Well. It’s surprising in every way you can imagine!

NOTES:
DNA Info, “Netflix Ends Unauthorized ‘Stranger Things’ Bar With A Super Classy Letter”

The Economist, “Salt Sellers”

And as always, thanks very much to Charlsey Miller for our theme song! Check out her music (and buy some of her albums!) at CharlseyMiller.com

Welcome back! In this episode, we talk Derry, Maine, where, if you time it right, nothing bad will ever happen to you! But if you’re a kid there every 27-30 years, hoo boy watch out! Turtle from Entourage can’t save you from the folksy elder god in the sewer system, and neither can the Gerber Life Grow-Up Plan.

Can you get life insurance in Derry? Join us to find out!

NOTES!
Jezebel, “Let Me Assure You That the Original It TV Movie Is Nowhere Nearly as Scary as You Remember”

Cracked, “‘Entourage’ is so Bad Pirates Don’t Want to Steal It”

So You Don’t Have To, Liz’s other podcast! (That Entourage Episode will be back up and available sometime soon!)

Credit for our lovely theme song goes to the miraculous Charlsey Miller! Check out here stuff here!

LISTEN HERE

This is our very first episode of Make-Believe Money, where Dan tells Liz and Damon about the interesting economic implications of fantasy worlds. First up, Ghostbusters! Sure, they look like a bunch of broke dudes in jumpsuits with some funky radioactive backpacks, but don’t be fooled! Turns out our favorite paranormal exterminators might be more money-savvy than pretty much anyone could have guessed.

NOTES!

Movoto Real Estate Blog, “Ghostbusters Firehouse for Sale”