Ducktales (2017)

[Reddish Mage]

The trouble is demonstrating it in a way that doesn't make him either an extremely unsympathetic character, a knockoff of Mr.Krabs, or an economic propaganda mouthpiece mouthpiece

Technically Scrooge McDuck was way before Mr. Krabs, so Mr. Krabs is a knockoff of Scrooge.

Also, for a template on how to make Scrooge cheap but still lovable, all one has to do is boot up the reruns of Ducktales, or even go to the comics.

The comics Scrooge is bordering on extremes. He exploits Donald and the Triplett for under-minimum wage labor hauling his treasure and other things that should raise eyebrows.

As far as politics go. Scrooge is always a parody, so whatever economic philosophy he spouts will always come out as just a overly intellectual way of him saying he is a cheapskate.

I’d say he seems more preachy in “The Great Dime Chase” than usual, and its a direct consequence of him clearly being level-headed and moderate (and its the vultures that appear stingy to extremes).

Finally, as far as economics, finance, wealth, investment, and business management apply to Scrooge... see below -

I don't know what the official reason is but here's what it should be: McDuck should have a lucrative side business of suing Glomgold for millions and millions of dollars whenever he pulls stuff like this, to the point where it's actually in his financial best interests for Glomgold to remain out of jail.

See this is the thing about Scrooge. Not only does fancy economics not apply, or basic financial concepts, but his businesses seem largely non-existent.

I seem to recall that Scrooge manages everything from the basement of money bin (in the Great Dime Chase again) and it look heavily automated, with too many rooms and floors and practically no staff.

Scrooge’s wealth, in every incarnation I’ve seen, is built on successful treasure hunting (and in former incarnations saving a ridiculous amount of it), not business management. Scrooge hasn’t been one to conduct real businesses for the most part, let alone real big businesses.

Not only should Scrooge be ignoring Glomgold to avoid breaking the spell over the series that everything is always going to be alright, but figuring a way to make money by sophisticated business maneuvers, high finance, or legal stratagems, is simply not Scrooge McDuck and never has been.

Scrooge is the ultimate exemplar of the extreme naivety in how fictional rich people get depicted. Scrooge wealth is impossibly large, making him wealthier than say...the US gov’t, yet despite his claimed business acumen, his wealth accumulation strategy amounts to what is taught to every five year old. Scrooge just saves all his money and gets more by finding it somehow (usually by himself going on adventures with a very small staff that he pays less than minimum wage). This he would call his “hard work.”

Scrooge’s business philosophy isn’t the only thing that makes him a parody. Scrooge has old habits, outdated clothing, a comically big house and money bin, and this taste in interior design runs to things considered antiques when the comic started! Basically Scrooge is the ultimate charicature of a TV rich person, one should view him as such and expect certain things out of him that are consistent with that caricature, as opposed to what makes sense from actual rich people.