Margaritaville

South Park Zone
South Park Season 13 - Episode 1303 - Margaritaville
Watch South Park - Margaritaville online

Randy tries to teach Stan how to save money by making him deposit a $100 check in the bank. Within seconds, it is lost in a mutual fund investment, along with the money of other bank customers. As the global recession hits South Park, Randy poses as a prophet and preaches that people should limit their spending to only "bare essentials" to propitiate the economy's anger. Kyle disagrees and tries to convince the people that if they want the economy to be strong, they must have faith in it. He sets up a table with a credit card machine and begins "paying everybody's debts", indebting himself for life. Meanwhile Stan, trying to return his father's expensive and unnecessary drink mixer, learns about the incompetence of the federal government.

South Park Spoiler Alert! (The complete plot for this South Park Episode)

Stan tries to save money by depositing it into the bank but it "disappears" moments after when the bank manager invests the money in a "money-market mutual fund." When Randy complains to the manager, he invests money in a portfolio, but the money also disappears; a recession then hits the nation and South Park. At dinner, Randy explains to Stan that the economy is failing due to people spending their money on luxuries, and ironically, he continues his tirade while making himself a margarita in a Margaritaville-brand mixer, the noise of which drowns out his voice for part of the tirade. People in South Park are struggling with the recent economic downturn, and many people on the street are castigating those whom they would blame; Cartman predictably blames the Jews, claiming they hid the money in a "Jew Cave", but Randy convinces everyone to reduce their spending to only the "bare essentials" in order to propitiate the economy, defending his own frivolous purchase by adding that the essentials include margaritas. His recommended changes make the town resemble first-century Galilee. Kyle becomes annoyed, responding that the economy is not actually angry with them, and that they should be out spending money, and continues to preach that the economy only exists as a mental construct, and that people have lost their faith in it because of the recession. He then convinces his friends that if they want the economy to be strong, they must have faith in it. Upon hearing of this heresy, Randy and his makeshift economic council decide that they must kill Kyle. Cartman, in his desire to obtain a copy of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, says that he will deliver Kyle to Randy and his friends in exchange for the game. In a scene resembling that of the Last Supper, Kyle and his friends go out for pizza where he laments that he feels they will not be able to get together like this anymore because he thinks one of his friends will betray him. The next day, Kyle sets up a table with a credit card machine in the town and begins "paying everybody's debts" with his American Express Platinum Card. Kyle's mother begs him to stop because he will be in debt for life, but Kyle feels he must to help everybody in the town. After paying for the debts, he passes out and the people carry him to his bed. Soon enough, the economy takes a turn for the better. Malls and shops start opening again for business and the now debt free people start purchasing again. Randy is shown buying the new Margaritaville. The news acknowledges President Barack Obama for the sacrifices he made and credits him for bringing these improvements in the economy leaving Kyle infuriated shouting "Come on!". As a subplot, Stan spends most of the episode trying to return the aforementioned Margaritaville mixer; the trendy retailer Sur La Table will not accept the return because it was bought on a payment plan. He tries to find out to whom he can return it, each person saying the debt has been packaged and sold to someone else (much like real-life mortgage-backed securities). Eventually he goes all the way to the United States Treasury, where a group of associates "consult the charts" and tell him the mixer is worth $90 trillion. One of the three treasury workers then says that another insurance company is failing and asks what they should do. They say they have to "consult the charts" again. Stan follows the men inside, and he sees a round lit-up game show style board, where the men cut off a chicken's head and let the decapitated chicken run on the board while one of them plays a tune similar to Yakety Sax on a kazoo. The chicken falls on the "bailout!" spot, so that is what the men do. In anger at the ridiculousness of the system, Stan breaks the mixer on the platform by the chicken and walks off.