From dragons to $10 ice cream in 63 minutes.

In this episode of The Economy of Nothing, hosts Mike Allen and Mike Bedont veer from $10 ice cream cones to streaming ads (or as they call them, “subtracts”), with plenty of detours in between. They debate whether dragons might have been real, celebrate Twisted Metal for getting TV right, and roast the decline of modern writing. Along the way, they dig into corporate collusion, the economics of novelty pricing, and Big Pharma’s slow-motion disclaimers, all while keeping the conversation funny, fast, and just a little unhinged.

From nostalgic TV rants to full-on ice cream conspiracies, it’s another unpredictable, entertaining ride through capitalism, pop culture, and the weird logic of the algorithm.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:28 Meet the Hosts
01:16 Unemployment
03:30 The $10 Ice Cream Rant
08:53 Streaming Services & Ads
13:04 Pharma Ads & Medicine
24:04 Economic Rants & Conspiracies
40:44 Pivot / Closing Thoughts
41:11 Twisted Metal (the show!)
45:10 The Decline of TV Writing
52:36 Dragons: Myth or Reality?
59:27 “Subtracts”: What We’re Calling Ads Now
01:03:58 Political Rants & Social Commentary
01:11:55 Future Plans

This week we talk pirates, billionaires, and the algorithmic rot of corporate booze.

It’s a classic EoN hangout: Mike and Mike spiral through *Pirates of the Caribbean 5*, Nintendo nostalgia, weird fitness VR, and the slow death of flavor. The ghost of Four Loko lingers over everything. Also: livestream call-in culture, Google Calendar breakdowns, and the real reason Portal games feel like jobs.

📺 Visual Radio™: https://youtu.be/a79JQAQkGG4
🎧 Extended episodes + bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/economyofnothing
🌐 Official site: https://economyofnothing.com
📬 Contact: economyofnothing@gmail.com


https://economyofnothing.com/portfolio

This week on The Economy of Nothing, we ask the big questions: What if Forrest Gump had AIDS? What if Liam Neeson’s wolf fight was real? And what if your guest couldn’t speak… because she was an octopus robot? Mike Allen (Mr. Green) opens the Man Cave™ for a cinematic breakdown of The Grey, The Punisher, and the existential dread of survival movies. Meanwhile, Captain Tracy fights malfunctioning tech, Mississippi the dog, and a sentient Nanny Bot. Sarah joins the crew—sort of—but due to technical difficulties, her voice is silenced... leading to a cascade of bits about compliance robots, gender, and divine absence. Featuring: • 🐙 Sarah the robot-octopus • 🐺 Wolf metaphors & Mr. Green’s PTSD • 🙏 God’s Not Dead, He’s Just Off-Duty • 🐶 Mississippi the dog and her nannybot • 🕶️ 3D Glasses, Full-Conductors, and survival despair0

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This week, we broadcast directly from Yavin 4 to bring you the Star Wars Special—a rogue transmission of hot takes, nostalgic rewatches, and corporate-media despair. Mike B is joined by Brent and David for a full-scale nerd-out over Andor Season 2, the tragic brilliance of Rogue One, and whether Clone Wars ever really worked.

From Ewok basement parties to the bureaucracy of fascism, we ask the big questions:
📼 What makes Andor so good it breaks Star Wars?
🧮 Can any future Star Wars match it—or are we just optimizing content for the algorithm now?
📺 Does Resistance even exist?

Also discussed: Droids, Rebels, The Phantom Menace, Caravan of Courage, Tony Gilroy, the MCU problem, and the feeling of existential dread when you realize The Search for More SEO might be the last time this galaxy had anything worth saying.

Welcome to Episode 101 of The Economy of Nothing — the first official episode of the podcast reboot, where we start building a universe from the basement up. Literally. Join hosts Mike Allen (aka Mr. Green) and Mike Bedont as they draft the blueprints for Mr. Green’s man cave, dream up a parody of Wall Street inside a cartoon space truck, and argue over how much a Patreon tier should cost.

Also in this episode:

• Is The Economy of Nothing a parody of Spaceballs or Star Wars? Yes.

• Mr. Green’s La-Z-Boy, red-blue 3D glasses, and whip wall.

• “Don’t date your boss’s prostitute.” (Life lessons from Wall Street.)

• Visual Radio vs. Real Radio: what even is this show?

• Patreon tiers, leaderboard schemes, and audience participation capitalism.

👽 Visual Radio is coming.
🍿 Let’s all go to the man cave.
🎩 Mr. Green’s hat is real.
💸 $150/month = immortality on the Founders Wall.

🎙️ Podcast + Visual Radio + Shorts + Sketches
📼 Full archive at: https://economyofnothing.com
💰 Patreon: https://patreon.com/economyofnothing

Some times:

📄 Description:
Cheyenne’s taking PTO (Permanent Tactical Offloading), Mr. Green’s watching movies on the moon, and Captain Tracy is trying so hard to hold it all together. This week on The Economy of Nothing, we redefine rest, rage, and rant-based animation economy.

In this episode:

• Cheyenne Soapbox is pitched as a lightning-powered trading card animation

• Mr. Green's Silver Screen Critiques go full fart-cloud NFT

• The crew watches Squid Game Season 3 projected on a lunar surface

• We invent the Attention Span Meter™ and still forget what we were talking about

• Everyone argues about reading, data, capitalism, babies, and the philosophical implications of doing nothing

Also featuring:

• 📈 Ryan turning into Anime Pope

• 🐐 Mike shapeshifting into a fainting goat

• 🎥 Mr. Green’s film review of “Squid Game: Baby Edition”

📺 Visual Radio Cut:
Watch on YouTube

🌐 Episode Page:
https://economyofnothing.com/podcast/015-permanent-vacation

This week, Mike's out and the remaining crew spirals through the process of trying to write a fake TV show—live, on mic, with no plan.

It starts with a discussion of how the podcast itself *is* the pitch, and quickly devolves into segment chaos, Dispatch bureaucracy, and an attempt to build the Nothing Corporation's propaganda machine around Cheyenne. Also, The Accountant 2 gets rebooted again for some reason.

Expect: production rants, anime modeling notes, fake commercials for surveillance drones, and a completely earnest breakdown of how (not) to structure a show.

Welcome to the Economy of Nothing.

🔹 Segment Highlights:
– Cheyenne becomes the face of Nothing Corp™
– Dispatch motivationally cuts Medicaid
– How we (don’t) structure episodes
– Segment Survivor is born
– The Accountant 2: still a problem
– Visual Radio vs Podcast breakdown

💌 Patreon: https://patreon.com/economyofnothing
🌐 Web: https://economyofnothing.com
📺 Visual Radio version on YouTube (@economyofnothing)

In this episode of The Economy of Nothing, the crew tests the limits of what counts as a good idea.
Ryan (aka Training Unit D1-CK) pitches from above a shark tank.
Mike Allen analyzes fame, narcissism, and banner quality.
The Captain just wants the podcast to stay on track.

Along the way, they invent the Hollowoods Content Feedback Loop™, crown a new podcast king, and argue about mermaids—again.

Recorded live across the studio, the truck, and deep within the Moonshine.

🔗 Early access + lore: patreon.com/economyofnothing