Matt Yglesias and Ezra Klein are both in China on some kind of junket, and both are complaining about the corporate shillishness of the American pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. One of the videos that comprise America’s message to the world, says Ezra, is just a “long series of advertisements from the pavilion’s corporate sponsors, including a representative from Chevron who tells us that oil will have to be part of our energy future and actually uses their marketing buzzwords ‘human energy.'” But hey — that’s a World Expo for you. Compare and contrast this to a souvenir coin from the 1939 Golden Gate Expo in San Francisco, which happily informs us that “A dollar spent for petroleum products never stops circulating. It pays for wages, taxes, materials and brings countless benefits to every business.” Indeed. And still does, apparently.
Anyway, I have no real point to make. I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of that coin again.