MANOUSH ZOMORODI, HOST:
So we've talked about people taking on the media, utility companies, gender stereotypes. And we want to end our episode on DIY with an individual who is taking on economics on social media because social media is, of course, a place where anyone anywhere can make anything and reach millions.
JACK CORBETT, BYLINE: (Vocalizing). Yep. I'm recording.
ZOMORODI: This is NPR's very own Jack Corbett, but you won't hear him on air.
CORBETT: I make TikToks for Planet Money.
ZOMORODI: Yep. TikTok. Jack's job is making short, surreal TikTok videos for NPR's Planet Money, videos that explain how the economy works and what's happening when it doesn't work. Take the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.
CORBETT: We made a video that just kind of went through all the processes, explained, you know, fractional reserve lending, how bonds and the bank run - in pretty layman's terms, just, like, yeah, simplified it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
CORBETT: Welcome to Silicon Valley Bank.
I'd like to withdraw all my money.
Yeah, our vault is kind of out of money.
ZOMORODI: If you've never seen Jack's work, picture a very tall, young man acting out strange skits where he plays all the parts that end up describing financial fundamentals.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
CORBETT: So you guys screwed up.
Well, no. This is how banks work. See; we only keep a fraction of our total reserves available for lending or for withdrawals at any one point. It's called fractional reserve lending. It's great unless everyone tries to withdraw their money all at once.
Oh, so I can have my money.
No, everyone tried to withdraw their money all at once.
ZOMORODI: Jack writes, shoots, stars in and edits the videos.
CORBETT: It's, like, amateur but not in, like, the amateur bad, like, amateur, like, just do it for fun, even though I do it for work.
ZOMORODI: And if you're thinking the audio from these videos sounds terrible, it's kind of the point.
CORBETT: It's a very low-budget kind of thing.
ZOMORODI: Which is why he does his own sound effects.
CORBETT: (Imitating power tool).
That's the great thing about TikTok.
ZOMORODI: You can get weird.
CORBETT: You can get so weird.
ZOMORODI: In fact, Jack's Dada-esque, hacked-together style has helped grow the Planet Money TikTok account to over 750,000 viewers and made him social media famous in the process.
CORBETT: Sometimes people would come up to me, and they'll be like, so, like, fractional reserve lending. And I'm like, man, I'm off the clock.
ZOMORODI: The film school student-turned-online educator thinks he knows why he's hit a nerve online.
CORBETT: I think it's just, like, speaking their language. I mean, in film school, I would just read a bunch of, like, film theory papers. And I became so frustrated with how, like, needlessly complicated all of these giant words - and self-serving they were. And so I'm like, just, like, just talk like a normal person. Just, like, explain it to me. It's like, I'm from Ohio. It's like, explain to an Ohio guy like me what's really going on. You know, I never studied economics. And so I would always hear these things, these terms, like, flying around.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: The S&P ended the day down 3.6%.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: We're talking about that debt ceiling debate now.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: Federal Reserve raising by one-quarter point by 25 day. This points to...
CORBETT: And no one was, like, explaining them in, like, a way that, like, I was keen on. I mean, like, to just put it simply, it takes some time just to, like, find out, like, what really is going on. I did a video on tax brackets, and I made it entirely just because my mom didn't know what they were. And, like, she thought that, like, you know, if you made, like, a little bit more money that you would, like, ultimately make less money 'cause you would go into a new bracket.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
CORBETT: Taxes are confusing.
But that's not how it works.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
CORBETT: Like, the first $10,000 you make is taxed at 10%. The next $30,000 is taxed at 12%. Between 40 and $86,000 is taxed at 22%. You're never going to bump up into a new bracket and make less overall money.
And I was like, you know, there's going to be people in, like, my mom's position who, like, won't know this. But, like, there were so many more people than I thought. Even my manager came up to me, and he's like, oh, I saw this one video about, like, tax brackets that was, like, you know - and I'm like, that was my video. It's like...
ZOMORODI: (Laughter).
CORBETT: You're telling me about the video that I made.
ZOMORODI: For you.
CORBETT: Yeah. And it's like, I never took any economics or financial literacy classes. I always thought it would be, like, you know, either too complicated or too boring. But I don't know. It's not. It doesn't have to be. If you just talk normal, if you don't make it complicated, it's fun.
ZOMORODI: Are you concerned at all? I mean, TikTok is in hot water here in the United States.
CORBETT: Yeah. I'm not thinking of this at all from, like, a national security perspective. I'm just thinking of this as, like, a guy who likes videos. I mean, worst - you know, if TikTok is banned, that would - you know, that would stink for me. But in college, I didn't think I would be doing TikTok.
ZOMORODI: Tell me what you thought you'd be doing.
CORBETT: I thought I'd be making, like, experimental documentaries and getting, like, maybe, like, 20 people into a theater to see them.
ZOMORODI: Instead, you have - you're teaching millions of people about basic macroeconomics.
CORBETT: I know. And I studied the least financially secure major out there, probably, which is, like, experimental cinema. So, I mean, you know, I got that to fallback on. I got experimental cinema always.
ZOMORODI: That was Jack Corbett. You can see his work on the TikTok app at @planetmoney. Thank you so much for listening to our show this week, DIY. This episode was produced by Rachel Faulkner White, Matthew Cloutier, Andrea Gutierrez and Fiona Geiran. It was edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour and me. Our production staff at NPR also includes James Delahoussaye, Harsha Nahata, Laine Kaplan-Levenson, Katie Monteleone and Julia Carney. Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our audio engineer was Margaret Luthar. Our theme music was written by Ramtin Arablouei. Our partners at TED are Chris Anderson, Colin Helms, Michelle Quint, Jimmy Gutierrez, Alejandra Salazar and Daniella Balarezo. I'm Manoush Zomorodi, and you've been listening to the TED Radio Hour from NPR.
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