Simple Economics sketch - Newsreview

An entry from my Newsreview collection today - a sketch I wrote and submitted to Newsrevue at the Canal Café Theatre in London - still waiting to hear if they liked it or not.
It was intended as a visual sketch so it's a bit difficult to write down but I'll do my best - hope you understand and enjoy it.

Simple Economics sketch (with blackboard illustrations
A: Listen to this - apparently the government is loaning money to small businesses in order to help the economy.
B: Yeah. And?
A: Why?
B: Well it’s instead of funding the universities. They give loans to small companies instead – help them start up.
A: I don’t understand how that helps.
B: Ah let me explain - you see it’s very simple:

B: To begin with universities (draw a rectangle building) didn’t charge any tuition fees (draw price tag and put a cross through it) as the government (draw a clock tower for Big Ben) funded them with loans (draw arrow showing money going into the university) which the universities repaid. (draw arrow showing money going back to the government) (Result is image a)

B: Then the government stopped funding them (put cross through money arrow going into the university) and the universities started charging fees (redraw price tag without cross) and the government instead gave loans to students. (draw stick figure and arrow to show money going to student) (Result is image b)

B: Then the universities decided to charge more for their fees (add pound signs to price tag) which meant the students were borrowing more from the government (add pound signs to the money arrow going to the student) but that’s ok because of the interest the government gets (Result is image c)

 
B: Then the universities decided to charge even more for their fees which the government helped them do by raising the cap put on them to limit the fees (draw extension to price tag being held by hand coming from the government)
B: This means that fewer people can afford to go to university (draw cross through stick figure) – with or without a government loan or grant so the government is offering loans to people starting up small companies (draw other stick figure with arrow to show money going to business people) which will result in more trade and more money being put into the economy (draw piggy bank with union flag and arrow pointing towards piggy bank to show money going into the economy) (Result is image d)

 

A: But hang on:

(A takes over and rubs out piggy bank, stick figures and additional pound signs – i.e. go back to image a)
A: When the government funded the universities, the universities always paid them back (circle arrow showing money going back to the government) (Result is image e) 

 

A: But the money the government loans to students (rub out money arrows between university and government and redraw stick figure with arrow to show money going to the student) doesn’t always come back (draw arrow showing money going back to government and add question mark) because there’s a cut-off point after which the debt is wiped out (Result is image f)

A: And loans given to new small businesses are highly risky as the companies might fail meaning the owners are in debt or on benefits (add more money arrows going to stick figure) and therefore worsening the economy (Result is image g)

A: So why, instead of the government giving money to unstable and unsettled small companies (rub out business person and their money arrows), don’t they go back to giving the money to universities (draw arrow showing money going into the university) who will give them their money back (draw arrow showing money going back into government) and if they consequently removed their fees (draw cross through price tag) - which they wouldn’t need any more – they’d be able to educate more people (draw more stick figures) and facilitate them finding valuable employment and would be inputting a greater amount into the economy (draw piggy bank with union jack and large money arrow going into it) (Result is image h)

B: Well you see it’s....What you need to consider is....The problem with that is...You just don’t understand, do you?