ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Every community is supported by its institutions. [Statue holding up community of Earth]

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Geesh…we hope they've been lifting weights.

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Sounds tiring.

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Anyway, these institutions can be divided into two kinds.

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First, there are national institutions, which are the same in every community and they're

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paid for at the national level.

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And then there are local institutions that are unique to each community. [Man walks up to woman receptionist]

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They're paid for at the local level.

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No surprises there!

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So…what do these institution do?

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Well, whether they’re national or local, all institutions do the same thing.

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They provide goods and services to the people in a community.

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Y'know…when they're not busy bench-pressing an entire community. [Uncle Sam bench pressing]

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Anyhoo, some of these goods and services are public, meaning they’re available to anybody

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who lives in a community…

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These are things like libraries, and community centers! [Examples of local communities]

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Other goods and services are private, meaning They're only available to paying customers.

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…What?

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We gotta eat.

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Anyway… institutions can also be compared based on their ownership.

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Some of them might be independently owned, and some might be publicly-traded. [Girl walking a dog and group of firemen with a dog]

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Whoa, whoa, whoa, independently whozits and publicly whatzits?

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Something tell us it's example time!

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How do we know?

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Because those are phrases we don't hear every day.

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Or…even every year. [Person turns page of book]

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So let's look at independently owned first..

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Here’s your brother’s new car. [Brother stood with new car]

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He bought it himself, with his own money that he saved up over the years.

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That means no matter how much you beg him, if he doesn’t want to drive you and your

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friends to the water park, he doesn’t have to. [Brother drives away from young brother]

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See, because your brother’s car is independently owned, he gets to decide – independent of

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you – how the car is used. [Brother drives car off a canyon]

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OK, so what about a publicly traded institution?

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That’s an organization that's traded through shares sold on the stock market.

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So back to our example…

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Here’s the family car that your parents let your brother use. [Brother stood with family car]

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But it’s not technically his because your folks bought it, and pay for the gas and insurance.

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For all intents and purposes, the car is now publicly traded.

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That means your brother has to listen to the car’s shareholders – in this case your [Brother holding car keys and Dad kicks keys out of his hand]

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parents – when it comes to making decisions about how the car gets used.

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A publicly traded institution is also required to share important information about itself

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with the general public.

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Yep, all information.

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That means the good and the bad. [Family assessing shareholder information]

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Walmart is an example of a public institution.

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It’s owned by lots of people through trading on the stock market.

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And, like a lot of public institutions, there’s Walmarts in lots of communities.

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Wowzers.

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That’s a lot of $2 t-shirts... [Walmart t-shirts]

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Meanwhile, your local party supply store may be an independent institution --

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-- possibly owned by the guy whose name is on the store.

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But let's be honest…with a name like Bongo, this guy was destined to own a party supply [Bongo a clown in a party supply store]

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store.

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Of course, just because a company is independently-owned doesn’t mean it’s small – [Independently owned dog dragging boy]

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or even local.

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Take Mars, Incorporated, producer of some of your – and your pet’s – favorite

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treats.

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Actually, while you can take all the Mars candy [Young boy eating candy bars]

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you want until you get a stomach ache, you technically can’t take any part of the Mars

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corporation.

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That’s because Mars, Inc. is a privately owned

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institution, controlled exclusively by the Mars family. [Alien family controlling the Mars factory]

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And they don’t let anyone come “be-TWIX-t” them and their company…

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And that's it! Institutions aren't so bad.

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And who knows? [Walmart truck picks up boy to take him to water park]

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Maybe Walmart will drive you to the water park!

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