2013-04-18
Explanation
This comic is titled "Why You Dont Want an Economist to Be President." It shows a woman at a presidential podium (with a flag behind her) making a speech. She announces that every single person, except Bob the janitor standing next to her, has dropped out of the labor force. She then proudly declares that for the first time in American history, the unemployment rate is zero percent.
The joke is based on how the unemployment rate is actually calculated. In economics, the unemployment rate only counts people who are actively seeking work but cannot find it. People who have left the labor force entirely (retirees, students, discouraged workers, etc.) are not counted as "unemployed." So technically, if everyone stopped looking for work except one person who had a job, the unemployment rate would indeed be zero percent, even though virtually nobody is working. An economist-president would exploit this technical loophole to claim a triumphant economic achievement that is actually a catastrophe.
The votey panel shows Bob the janitor with a sinister expression saying "I have cornered the labor market," adding another layer of humor: as the sole remaining member of the labor force with a job, Bob now has a complete monopoly on labor, giving him enormous theoretical leverage in this absurd economic scenario.