The above was sent to me by the First Mate. In a recent conversation she started swearing like a sailor. Not her usual style at all. She excused herself for what we refer to in the family as “Navy Talk”. I said it was OK because she married a sailor. Me. You should have seen the smile on her face.
You can learn more about the first YouTube billion hit video Gangnam Style from the Wiki. Here is the band PSY (the originators) doing it in Paris. I used to have a coat like that. I bought it from a Kung Fu shop in Chicago. Thanks to the First Mate again for the that video as well.
Translation and Transliteration of the lyrics.
The official Gangnam Style music video. I used to own a yellow leisure suit like the one in the video. Mine was a brighter yellow though. And I wore black shoes with my suit. Sorry – no pictures. Which the First Mate regrets (she takes pictures of everything) to this day.
The above video appears to have been made at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. So I thought I’d visit the Naval Academy site. I found a couple of interesting things there. One is a talk by Nobel economist Peter Diamond about the Economic State of the Nation.
He identified the current unemployment situation as a ‘crisis’ – something that requires immediate attention – and the federal debt as a “problem” that must be dealt with but doesn’t require immediate action.
As usual the the politicians are focusing on the wrong area. The point is that if the economy was functioning reasonably well the deficits would not be so huge. So what are the pols doing? Things that will slow the economy further. I think it is intentional. They want to turn us all into beggars because they are easier to please.
Despite his good general advice in the quote he is one of those economists who believes in aggregate demand. A Keynesian. He thinks what we need is an increase in aggregate demand. Which in the abstract is true. As far as I can tell no one knows how to create/increase aggregate demand. We do know how to increase demand. Make products that fill a need and offer them at an attractive price relative to the need. But there is no general policy I’m aware of (short of a world war) that can do that on demand. If there was we would not have economic cycles.
Here is another interesting one from the Academy. Israeli Punk Band Discusses Music, Politics at Naval Academy.
While some of their songs have a political bent, singer and bassist Yotam Ben-Horin said he doesn’t write directly about politics. The band pulls from real life for their inspiration, but (as it became clear during the discussion) sometimes real life and politics are inseparable.
For example, as the audience entered the lecture room and took their seats, a large screen displayed one of the band’s music videos. The video was dedicated to a teenage fan killed in a terrorist bombing on a Haifa bus in 2003, only two days after attending the show where the video was recorded.
The girl can be seen cheering in the front row, said Carmel.
Ironically, it was the same bus that guitarist Ishay Berger used to ride to get to school.
“It kind of gets you thinking,” said Berger.
Tough neighborhood.
You can pick a “Useless ID” song to watch here. Here is State of Fear which they performed for the Midshipmen.