So I was just thinking about this (it’s not really Christmas anymore but it’s still cold. Anyway, so almost every year my family and I watch the old “Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim (an amazing British actor that I think is better known for comedies but just absolutely CRUSHED in this movie as the greatest Scrooge of all time).

You can see him above (actually, now that I think about it, old man, disheveled hair, generous and compassionate, empathetic, cares for the poor, reformed Scrooge is basically Bernie Sanders). Wow, so to get back to my thought, essentially the moral of the story of the Christmas Carol is:

That’s right, Scrooge got rich and because of that all of the other bits of the movie were possible. In fact, multiple people along the way get screwed over because they are bad with money. The people that seem to have it the best are those that HAVE money and don’t blow a ton of it (like Scrooge’s nephew who uses his inherited money, not to help the poor really, but to throw parties and have fun). The parties aren’t that expensive, as Scrooge himself realizes during the Ghost of Christmas Present revelations.

So back to the point though. We never would have heard of Scrooge if he was an asshole that was bad with money. Like, the story could have been the same, but then when poor Scrooge “wakes up” and realizes he’s still alive, he can’t start buying a giant goose, promoting Bob Cratchett, saving Tiny Tim (in the poor Scrooge scenario Tiny Tim would still be unable to afford healthcare (libertarianism YAY!) and die), etc.

Therefore, the message of Scrooge is get money (like Scrooge did) or die tryin’ (like Jacob Marley did). If Jacob Marley had taken better care of himself or was luckier, he could have outlived Scrooge, Scrooge could have ghosted HIM, and then we’d tell the tale of happy/generous Jacob Marley (less Jacob Marley, more Bob Marley).

So merry Christmas everyone! Get rich! Then just chill and throw parties!