In a parody of the final weeks of Christ's life, South Park goes into hysterics over the failing economy, but Kyle begins preaching that there is no reason for fear. Meanwhile, Stan unsuccessfully tries to return his dad's margarita machine.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Aesop Amnesia: After preaching an extreme case of fiscal conservatism, Randy ends the episode getting a new Margaritaville, describing its function in such a way as to demonstrate what a waste of money it is.
- All for Nothing: Stan's journey to return his dad's Margaritaville is all for naught after he gives up upon seeing just how nonsensical the treasury's handling of important financial decisions are, tossing and destroying the mixer in frustration. Even worse, Randy buys another Margaritaville at the end just to further illustrate how pointless Stan's efforts were.
- Artistic License – Economics: Even discounting how Kyle was able to apply for a credit card, much less a limitless card, despite being underage, no credit card company is going to let a person stack up hundreds if not thousands of charges all in the span of a few hours without freezing the card due to fraud concerns.
- Chekhov's Gun: The credit card with no spending limit that Kyle gets to "prove a point".
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: For the crime of frivolous spending, a mob of people throw squirrels at Mr. Garrison.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: No one even acknowledges the fact that Kyle paid off their debts; the closest he at least gets respect for his sacrifice is being carried to his room after getting tired paying off everyone's debts, all done in a way that pays homage to Jesus being carried to His tomb after dying on the Cross.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Randy isn't wrong when he points out one of the causes of the recession was people spending money they didn't have on frivolous purchases. Kyle even agrees on that point. However, Randy's idea of fixing the economy by not spending any money at all is completely wrong.
- Genre Savvy: Kyle was catching on to the Jesus parallels he was following and after a conversation about a possible traitor he enacts his plan ahead of time to prevent the adults from stopping him, charging everyone else's debts to his no limit credit card so that they had disposable income to use.
- Hypocrite: Randy, for all of his talk about people's frivolous spending on expensive things they don't need, initially exposits his rage while using an obviously expensive margarita mixer he didn't need. What's worse is that he isn't oblivious to it, he just tries to justify his spending by including margaritas in his list of bare essentials people need to live. And after trying to stop Kyle the whole episode, he's more than happy to let him pay off his debt.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- Randy's plan to fix the economy is for the people of South Park to not spend any money at all. When the town's economy unsurprisingly gets worse because of this, he's completely perplexed and decides to blame Kyle for it.
- The treasury's financial decisions resemble a cult ritual.
- Kazoos Mean Silliness: The weird decision making process the treasurers go through is accompanied by a kazoo rendition of "Yakety Sax".
- "Last Supper" Steal: Kyle and his friends have one last pizza dinner at Whistlin' Willy's, and all happen to be sitting on one side of a long table, with Kyle as Jesus in the centre, flanked by Craig as Bartholomew, Timmy as James the Lesser, Jason as Andrew, Cartman as Judas (true to form, he is the one planning to betray Kyle), Token as John, Jimmy as Thomas, Butters as James the Greater, Kenny as Philip, Tweek as Matthew, Ike as Thaddeus, and Clyde as Simon.note
- Messianic Archetype: Kyle gets turned into one when he tries to get people to come round to the idea that the economy isn't an angry beast, and they need to start spending again to revitalize it. His initial "disciples" include Butters, Craig, Clyde, Kenny, and Cartman as the equivalent of Judas Iscariot.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: It's heavily implied that the bank teller at the start is actually stealing the invested money for himself.
- Nails on a Blackboard: Cartman does this to get Randy and his friends' attention when they question how to catch Kyle.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: The guy working at Sur la Table pronounces the "ble" in words like "table", "cable" and "agreeable" as "bluh".
- Product Placement: The people of South Park not buying anything anymore means Cartman can't get Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which aggravates him.
- Rage Quit: Stan's subplot ends with him getting so fed up with the bullshit concerning the Margaritaville that, rather than continue pursuing it after seeing the bailout scene, he smashes it.
- Running Gag:
- "Annnd it's gone!"
- Whenever Stan reaches a different financial planner and explains that he's come to return the Margaritaville (which becomes increasingly convoluted since he adds each experience to his reasoning), said person replies with "Yeah, that makes sense."
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Stan, after realizing he's in a "Shaggy Dog" Story, smashes the titular Margaritaville and goes home.
- Sentient Cosmic Force: How the people of South Park begin treating the economy.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Stan's side plot, which involves him talking to various people in an attempt to get a refund for the Margaritaville mixer, only to get denied at every turn when it turns out said machines are all part of a convoluted financing plan for people who want one but can't pay for one and said plan has already been sold to a different person whom he must now consult. When he finally moves up the ladder all the way to the treasury, it turns out their shorthand of "consulting the charts" regarding important financial decisions actually involves cutting the head off a chicken, playing a version of "Yakety Sax" on a kazoo and watching the chicken run around on a giant gameboard, and deciding what action to take based on what space it finally expires on. Upon seeing this insanity, he gives up, throws the Margaritaville mixer on the gameboard, and goes back home.
- Shout-Out: The sequence of all of the street preachers throwing blame at various entities as the cause of the recession is a reference to Monty Python's Life of Brian.
- Take That!:
- At the end, the newscast shows that the people of South Park consider Barack Obama to be the one who turned the economy around, despite the fact he didn't do anything.
- When it is suggested that Kyle is the "only son of the Economy, sent to us", Father Maxi angrily states that the Economy is omnipotent and capable of anything, and thus having only one son is completely illogical. He and everyone else is blind to the irony.
- The foundations of the economy are overlaid with several layers' worth of middle-men, with the top brass basing their decisions on the results of an insanely stupid ritual.
- The Unreveal: Exactly how much Kyle's credit, and by extension the town's debt, is in the hole for is never revealed.
- Verbal Tic: Josh from the finance company has a habit of saying "yeah... no" at random points in conversation.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The main plot becomes a reenactment of Biblical events, with Kyle in the role of Jesus.
