I can hear it already: This is not real world music!!!

But wait, aren't the blues "world music?" As Link's resident expert, I say "yes, they are!"  Of course, that's me singing the song I wrote, so I have a vested interest in bending the category (maybe). But no less a luminary that Howard Mandel, President of the Jazz Journalists Association saw fit to carry this on HIS blog. So there. 

Here's the scoop on how this all happened:

Getting laid off because of a recession can really get to you, no matter how busy you make yourself. My partner Bruce Arnold had been writing songs for his new lap steel, and this one, called "Up the Spout" (a Midwestern depression term) just spoke to me. I wrote a melody and words and voilá.

Occupy Wall Street happened right around the time we were shooting the video, so I went down there and got shots of some of the more poignant people and signs... what can I say, they were more sympatico than I thought they'd be, and every one of them could have been you or me. Much has been said against the demonstration, but I for one am glad that someone is expressing the outrage that Americans should be feeling about being used and abused by a system that is badly out of kilter. Do I have the answers? As Mr. Mandel sagely pointed out in his blog: "Nobody should expect policy answers from a blues."

Lyrics to "Up the Spout"

It's a bitter wind, and it ain't no breeze
It shakes the windows and it takes the trees
And it blew me away
I love my work. It's what life's about-
that wind came and blew it all Up the Spout
Yes it blew me away.

Now here I sit... what shall I do
That wind left me here without a clue
Yes, it blew me a way
You were the boss, yet here we meet
Yeah, we both lost on that windy street
Yes it blew us both away

That wind don't care -- we're all just dust
and it' happening to all of us
It's blowing us away
Now with a little luck I'll make it through
But when that wind blows it's gonna come for you too
It's blowing -- It's blowing us away, Up the Spout
Blowing us Up the Spout

For more of Michal's original music videos, visit inter-muse.com.

China sees two major challenges to its economic growth: rising unemployment and a deep investment in the U.S. dollar. Beijing's answer: spend and invest, and wheel and deal. In the process, China is crafting a recovery strategy that's spreading its interests around the world.

Sources: CCTV, China; Al Jazeera English, Qatar; Russia Today, Russia; BBC, U.K.; Press TV, Iran; Todo Noticias, Argentina

On the heels of a G-20 summit that saw U.S. President Obama play peacemaker in several multi-national disputes, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev reignited talk yesterday of replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Medvedev's words echoed an argument initiated in March by a Chinese central bank official, and to varying degrees supported by world leaders from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Last fall, Global Pulse reported that China and Russia had agreed to construct a new oil pipeline connecting the two nations, and that the dollar would not be used in any financial transactions. At the time, we asked if Russia and China could be establishing a long-term alliance designed in part to isolate the influence of U.S. currency.

In recent weeks, speculation is rife that the dollar could fall as the world's reserve currency. The storm began last week when Chinese central bank official Zhou Xiaochuan suggested that the dollar be replaced by International Monetary Fund units known as "special drawing rights" that are based on a basket of global currencies. The following day, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner briefly alarmed traders with his comments in support of expanding IMF use of SDRs to combat recession.

No sooner had the markets calmed when a political fury began to whip among U.S. conservatives. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota led the charge, introducing legislation to "prohibit a global currency" and touting her message on the airwaves. A Rasmussen poll found that 88% of Americans feel it is "important that the dollar remain America's currency."

But to the center and left, a less fearful analysis prevails. The Economist notes that SDRs have yet to catch on as a global means of exchange and represent in total a miniscule fraction of China's foreign exchange portfolio. And today, Paul Krugman dismisses China's consideration of a global currency as mere denial of how trapped it is by the staggering size of its U.S. Treasury holdings.

Should the U.S. be doing more to protect the dollar? Or could a new global currency help promote worldwide cooperation in economic recovery?

Global Pulse primary production is off this week, but assistant producer Elizabeth Cabrera had the foresight to produce our first behind-the-scenes piece shot in and around Link TV's San Francisco offices. She directs a team that includes Erin Zaleski as writer and co-producer, Fanny Dassie as writer and production assistant, and Shima Nishimuta and Virginia Gazzinelli as shooters. The piece follows up on a segment of last week's episode "Global Meltdown: Human Fallout" that examined the rising joblessness of South Korean graduates. In the coming months, we hope to share similar pieces that spotlight the diverse perspectives of our international team. 

As the waves of the financial meltdown pound banks and governments, the human cost is easily lost in the background. From layoffs to shattered dreams, the global crisis becomes a personal crisis. Do we really see how deeply it reaches into the global community?

SOURCES: Al Jazeera English, Qatar; CNN, U.S.; Deutsche Welle, Germany; South Asia Newsline, India; Russia Today, Russia; KBS, South Korea.