If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.
Virginia Woolf
Good Music Finally Hits #1
Madonna is certainly innovative; this year she became one of the few pop acts to score a top 10 hit in a string of now her fourth decade as an artist. She is a masterful self-promoter, but to ensure good sales for her newest album, she tried a radically different gimmick: roughly half the 359K unit sales came bundled with concert tickets. Other entertainers from the 70's/80's have also struggled to remain relevant in the fickle pop music market; country and adult contemporary genre fans are notoriously loyal.
I was a big fan of The Commodores whom aspired to be the "Black Beatles", but I never really knew the names of the band members, so when this huge hit single duet with Diana Ross from a forgettable Brooke Shields movie hit the charts, becoming the biggest Motown hit ever, I remember thinking, "Lionel who?". Soon Lionel Richie became the biggest top male solo artist (with the possible exception of Michael Jackson, whom co-wrote with him the epic charity single, "We Are the World"); in fact, Lionel Richie performed one of his biggest hits at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics. Another one of his hits was the signature song at my middle brother's wedding reception.
Lionel Richie, after a string of Top 10 hits through 1986, found his success tapering off, with his last Top 40 hit in 1996. (He has had occasional minor hits, especially on the adult contemporary or dance charts since then.) I thought that perhaps most of the younger generation knows him through his adopted daughter, Nicole, whom starred in a widely known reality series with then best friend Paris Hilton. My personal favorite solo hit is Richie's "Running With the Night".
My bittersweet favorite Lionel Richie song is the Commodores' "Sail On". At OLL I had met the most gorgeous coed I've ever seen in my life; she stood out, even in a school that was two-thirds coed. [I once saw her one evening near the campus dining hall; I had rounded the corner and saw her talking with other people. Perhaps there must have some special event (performing arts?): she was beyond stunning and spectacular in this white dress; I don't think that she noticed me. I always thought this "take my breath away, knees going weak" expression was just an exaggerated saying until I experienced it and literally almost fell down at the mere sight of her (which would have been embarrassing). The reality of her beauty exceeded my imagination.] I didn't think that she knew I was alive; I just never thought as the campus geek that I had a chance with her.
Well, maybe just a hint that she had noticed and maybe even liked me: near the end of the fall semester I was watching a TV program alone in some student lounge along the hallway between the men's and women's dorms. She came in and sat near me. She didn't really say anything and my mind went blank trying to think of small talk. Finally, just before she left, she offered me a sip from her can of Coke. I politely declined.
Well, there's always next semester. Except, for whatever reason, she didn't return to school in the spring semester. I kept replaying the cola incident in my head, wishing I had taken the chance to know her better. When, totally out of the blue, I got a Valentine's Day card from her (probably the first I had gotten since grade school). But, alas, she lived in El Paso, a good 600 miles away. We corresponded for the next 4-5 years, and she had invited me to visit one weekend. My used car at the time was burning oil, and I chickened out at the last moment, worried about my car breaking down in the middle of nowhere along I-10. I almost immediately realized I had made a mistake and wanted to book a flight on a later date, but she wasn't interested and then she stopped answering letters. [Ironically, when I was on the UTEP faculty in 1989-90, I tried to get in touch with her but was unsuccessful; I had heard through other sources that she had gotten married and had a couple of kids.] "Sail On" was a song that symbolized the fact that she had moved on with her life and left our friendship behind. I learned a lot about what some beautiful women go through, what they think, what motivates them. Richie's cover below with Mr. Faith Hill is superb.
I loved 1987's "Deep River Woman" with its magical harmonious mixture of country supergroup Alabama behind it, even though it didn't enjoy the chart success of his earlier singles. I think he covers the song with an alternative country act on his new album.
Richie's new album Tuskegee is a collection of duets with famous country singers covering his biggest hits. It's #1, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Lionel, going back to that Black Beatles thing, have you thought of covering George Harrison's "Taxman"?
Barack Obama's Favorite Beatles Tune, Aiming for #1 (Percent)
Here We Go Again: The Oil Speculation Populist Nonsense
Warning for Romney: you can expect Obama to pull every populist stunt in the playbook in his desperate attempt to win reelection. Obama is willing to use any excuse to further the cause of economic fascism (i.e., the road to serfdom, a government-dominated economy). The latest proposal is focused on demonizing oil speculators and strengthening commodity regulations. (THUMBS DOWN!) He's not really worried about higher prices--if he did, he would pursue more exploration-friendly policies to develop largely untapped Alaska, offshore, and oil shale properties, to streamline permit approval, and/or to limit environmental impact or similar bureaucratic delays. Besides, high prices encourage his favored alternative energy solutions.
Despite what Obama would have you believe, speculators can win, regardless of the direction of a commodity price. That is, they can make money when oil prices go down as well. And, of course, speculators can lose money; there are two parties to every trade, and trades are made at the top and bottom of cycles.
Just to point out a few important points of speculation:
- "It is the speculator who assumes great risk, and this exchange helps to maintain inventory; without a speculator providing incentives to producers [buying low pushes up price], shortages and rapid price fluctuations [selling inventory at high prices pushes down price, restocking inventory at lower prices supports producer prices] can occur." Without risk sharing, producers (like farmers) would have to hedge on their own, beyond their limited resources and knowledge of the market, or face the full force of catching a falling knife in selling goods, potentially wiping out their equity.
- "The primary services that speculators provide are to assume risks, to speed market adjustments and to provide liquidity." For example, an economic downturn could adversely affect commodities (including oil): the commodity producer could lock in a favorable price/profit, thus mitigating any subsequent losses at the time of bringing goods to market.
- "Speculation itself does not cause crises, however. Instead, speculation reveals quickly the underlying weaknesses in a market and affirm the buying public's approval or disapproval. "
From The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, Tyler Cowen on Public Goods:
The imperfections of market solutions to public-goods problems must be weighed against the imperfections of government solutions. Governments rely on bureaucracy, respond to poorly informed voters, and have weak incentives to serve consumers. Therefore they produce inefficiently. Furthermore, politicians may supply public “goods” in a manner to serve their own interests rather than the interests of the public; examples of wasteful government spending and pork barrel projects are legion. Government often creates a problem of “forced riders” by compelling persons to support projects they do not desire. Private means of avoiding or transforming public-goods problems, when available, are usually more efficient than governmental solutions.Just a few points. First of all, the political process tends to subordinate long-term interests to short-term interests. For example, Democrats have tended to fend off social security reform because of actuarial projections that we can continue to pay out a full check until sometime in the 2030's, even with payroll contributions not enough to cover outflows in this suboptimal pay-as-you-go scheme.
Second, the political process subordinates the more national interest to the local/regional interests. For instance, legislators stubbornly hold to protectionist schemes (sugar subsidies, ethanol tariffs, etc.), even though consumers will benefit from free trade.
Third, the political process does not mandate adequate professional ethics standards and rewards ideology over performance and accountability.
Fourth, because government is intrinsically monopolistic/anti-competitive, its solutions are inherently deficient.
Fifth, the political process tends to treat the symptoms versus the disease, e.g., modest reforms versus a comprehensive tax overhaul.
Finally, there's a tendency to hide costs, a low barrier to spending, and a high barrier to revenue collection.
We will look at related issues in upcoming commentaries. For example, how do we elect more pragmatic candidates? One solution might be to open primaries and runoffs....
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Rolling Stones, "Time Is On My Side"
