miercuri, 8 iulie 2009

Day 5 in Aspen.... 4th of July


Day 5 started good and got better. 4th of July, my luggage just got here, no rain.... a perfect day in every way.
The first discussion for the day was a lecture on Superclass (The Global Power Elite), based on the book with the same name by David Rothkopf. Brilliant in writing, Rothkopf (check his view on the festival @ Foreign Policy), is somewhat "all over the place" in person. Maybe due to the limited duration of the talks... Who knows?
Next lecture: GREENSPAN!!!!!!!!!!! A discussion on the crisis and how it should have been averted. Few ideas: banks incorporation is bad, securitization is good, immigrants are good for the housing market (they absorb the extra houses), data used in econometrics models is bad, because it only covers the past 20 yrs (NB: really? Who focuses on just the past 20 yrs apart from Ex-communist countries, which totally makes sense?), there is a need for a regulation system that "does not require one to forecast"....See the whole thing here. It is sometimes difficult to agree to the ideas of the "rock star of economics" (considering there were several 16 year old following him around for autographs), but the entire discussion was immensely interesting. However, sometimes, during the entire explanation on Markowitz, all I could think about is how on Earth did Greenspan manage to marry Andrea Mitchell (her understatement on the first day: I do know something about odd couples...)? I know, I'm superficial :)

After that, the contre-emploi du jour was a lecture on "Weathering the Storm: How
will the Arts Make it Through the Economic Crisis?" with Deborah Borda, Leonard Lauder (from the Estee...), Laveen Naidu and Damian Woetzel. Wonderful the passion for music, dance and museums. Some great ideas about how to get more people to join the club: the use of classical music for community improvement, the ballet classes for kids from economically challenged families, not ignoring other races when discussing classical music and ballet (Naidu's statement: you only see white people on the stage), using new technologies as a support for everything from ticketing to recordings (Borda: Who does record everything that you buy? The Bratislava philharmonic...)... Wonder where Romania is on the map...Well, at least, we have this...

Considering the entire festival is online (with movies and/or audio recordings of everything), I decided to go see the 4th of July parade in Aspen... Unbelievable.... American patriotism and capitalism (everybody is selling something at the parade) at their best...


After the parade, a lecture on the brain with Harold Koplewicz, Patricia Kuhl,Andrew Meltzoff. Cool things: kids have personalities since birth, men have more gray matter than women (we really are different species ...), learning a second language is easier by the time you are 14 than after...

The plenary of the day is Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of Palestine... That region needs more people like him, with such a common sense, clear view of the future and the need for peace. Quote: We are building a state under occupation... Inspiring...

The day ends with fireworks on the mountain... Gorgeous, couldn't decide whether to make photos or just enjoy... The latter won... Later on, the Spazmatics at the BellyUp.... The night got better and better: getting IDed (totally flattering :D) and dancing with a ballet legend (Thanks for the spin on the dancefloor, Laveen!) made the 4th of July celebration just perfect!

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