Nuff Said: 'US-Sino Currency Rap Battle'

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 11/11/2010 12:03:00 AM
An IPE@UNC homie name checks yours truly and points us in the direction of--I kid you not--the "US-Sino Currency Rap Battle." It's actually very entertaining if I have a quibble here and there. F'rinstance:
  • Uncle Sam goes from a beggar to more than holding his own against a panda (representing China) by the clip's end--not quite consistent;
  • The chorus stresses interdependence a bit too much for my tastes;
  • Since the scriptwriters are billing this as a primer on the upcoming G-20 summit, shouldn't there be some talk about Germany as well as others complaining about US actions like Brazil?
  • Why is "Timmy G" being sent by Obama to rat-ta-tat-tat his gat at PRC currency miscreants? He doesn't strike me as very tough since he's continually refused to designate China a currency manipulator. Also, his most memorable China incident was being laughed off at PKU when asked whether the PRC's dollar holdings were safe;
  • The animators missed this great opportunity to show Bernanke helicopter dropping wads of cash around the globe (please make this the subject of your next video feature!)
  • It's not really the use of the dollar as a vehicle currency but rather it's use as a reserve currency that buoys it. For the difference between a flow (less important) and a stock (more important) concept in foreign exchange, see a previous post.
Anyway, those are minor nitpicks. More of this! (And yes, they probably should just cut the crap and start fighting already. We're all likely better off that way instead of sticking with a suboptimal current situation.)