TIME Magazine: Richter Scales "actually kind of nice to listen to"

Not to blow our own horn--because we are, y'know, an a cappella group, and we don't play instruments--but here's what finance folks are saying about our YouTube music video, "Fine Line: Sub-Prime Decline:"

• Justin Fox, Time’s business and economics columnist, says it's "[t]he musical explanation of the subprime crisis that you've been waiting for" and "actually kind of nice to listen to!"
• The Real Estate Realist said that we "bring a smile to even the most downtrodden investor’s face."
• The Wall Street Journal quoted our first two verses. We'll let you have this one for free, Rupert, but next time let's talk licensing.

...and many more, including The Big Picture, Cody Willard, Housing Doom, and the Google Finance Blog. (You can see a complete list on our Fine Line Views spreadsheet, which also tracks how many people have been watching the video on YouTube.)

On the a cappella side of Internet-town, Jason's post in the RARB forum generated quite a few responses as well:

• Deke Sharon, BOCA founder and former Tufts Beelzebub, says: "This is truly hilarious! Congrats on all the publicity!"
• Marc Bernfield, East Bay Harmony founder and ex-Ro Sham Bo singer, says: "Truly inspired. If nothing else, this is definitely the best a cappella music video I've ever seen."
• Corey Slutsky, Voices Only founder, says: "worth watching repeatedly. I'll make sure this gets passed around."
• Greg Stevens, co-founder of the Johns Hopkins Vocal Chords, says: "that's rad, and what phenomenal voices!"

Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

Did Bernanke watch our music video?

These are the facts:

1. Last week, on September 13th, we (The Richter Scales) released our music video "Fine Line: Sub-Prime Decline" (pictured below).

2. In said music video, at time index 01:29, we implore Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to "cut rates" by "50 bips."

3. The financial term "bips" is an abbreviation of "basis points" (1/100th of a percent). 50 bips would be half of one percent.

4. Today, the Federal Reserve lowered the key lending rate by 0.5%.

These are the facts, and they are not in dispute.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions.