In a classic scene from the 1986 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," the actor/comedian Ben Stein portrays a boring high-school teacher who drones on to his indifferent students about a familiar history lesson:

"In 1930, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects of the—anyone? anyone?—the Great Depression, passed the—anyone? anyone?—the tariff bill, the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act which—anyone? raised or lowered?—raised tariffs….Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did...