Reality Show Concept: Follow That Dollar
Feb. 7th, 2010 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleInspired by http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ , I'd love to see a "reality show" which I would call "Follow That Dollar". A hundred one-dollar bills are randomly selected and traced as they leave their source - say, a restaurant tab, or a car purchase, or a surgical operation. A panel of judges would make witty observations about where the money tended to go, sort of like MST3K of money.
The problem with wheresgeorge is that actual dollar bills don't have a very interesting life - they don't participate in the most important transactions, like paying taxes or buying a house. But you can still use the same concept to trace money through any kind of transaction. The bills don't have to be real bills, you can just choose random things from a business' accounting books using a computer program to weight the choices, just as if there were actual bills being passed around.
This is absurdly geeky, but if you could actually get at the numbers it would be so interesting to look at the economy from this perspective. I bet the results would be scandalous in dozens of ways, and in particular would lay bare the truth about class and economic inequality.
The problem with wheresgeorge is that actual dollar bills don't have a very interesting life - they don't participate in the most important transactions, like paying taxes or buying a house. But you can still use the same concept to trace money through any kind of transaction. The bills don't have to be real bills, you can just choose random things from a business' accounting books using a computer program to weight the choices, just as if there were actual bills being passed around.
This is absurdly geeky, but if you could actually get at the numbers it would be so interesting to look at the economy from this perspective. I bet the results would be scandalous in dozens of ways, and in particular would lay bare the truth about class and economic inequality.
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Date: 2010-02-07 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 03:17 am (UTC)http://www.wheresgeorge.com/report.php?key=7e8918e7fad259700bad097bcda9ce133b35318ada907135
There was an interesting 1993 film based on a similar premise to yours, called Twenty Bucks, which follows the life of a $20 bill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Bucks
The premise you suggest is a very interesting one, but I'm not sure it could be as done as a reality show for logistical reasons: Too many transactions of a $100 bill would be objectionable or criminal, such as drug purchases, uses as a cocaine straw, as well as prostitution, gambling, and money laundering. People using the $100 bill in these ways would understandably object to their activities being recorded. And I doubt banks would allow video recording of transactions into and out of their possession.
But you are right, the class implications would be interesting!