Knopfler literally picked up the lyric when he was in an electrical goods store (the ones that sell both washing machines and TV's) when he overheard an employee whining about having to work so hard while the yoyo's on MTV got their money for nothing and their chicks for free. Knopfler says he quickly hid behind a washing machine to jot down as much of the conversation as he could.
This story very much reminds me of the spanking new sanitized version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn that has both the n-word and "injuns" edited out.
What frustrates me so about this is that life is being made more and more impossible by both right-wing and left-wing whiners who would probably have a ball together if locked up in a theme park devoted at once to that ideal glorious and innocent past and that ideal, glorious, happy future. It's clear that both left and right want exactly the same thing: a world that never was, and never will be.