2014-04-17
Explanation
The Joke
A man explains to another that since the number of human beings who will ever exist over time is essentially infinite, Satan (who lives until the end of days) has a lifetime supply of souls that is essentially infinite. This means the marginal value of any additional soul is negligible to him. Using basic economic reasoning, the man offers Satan two dollars and half a burrito for a hundred souls, and Satan eagerly accepts with "DONE!"
The punchline comes in the final panel, set "Somewhere Else," where someone prays asking God what sort of person gets into the Kingdom of Heaven. God responds, "At this point, it's mostly financial analysts."
The Humor
The comedy works on multiple levels. First, there is the absurdity of applying microeconomic principles (marginal value, supply and demand) to the metaphysical concept of soul-buying. If souls are infinitely abundant over time, each one really is nearly worthless by standard economics, making Satan a terrible negotiator despite being the Prince of Darkness.
The second layer is the final panel twist: the people who get into Heaven are not the pious or virtuous, but financial analysts -- the people clever enough to recognize that Satan is sitting on an infinite supply with zero scarcity, and who can therefore buy up souls at bargain prices. The implication is that being good at finding market inefficiencies is, ironically, the most heavenly skill.
References
The comic references the economic concept of marginal value -- when supply is effectively infinite, the marginal value of each additional unit approaches zero. This is a core principle of microeconomics and supply-demand theory.