"They need just a few hours' sleep. They're prone to reckless behavior, sexual promiscuity, extravagant spending. They exhibit all the signs, that is, of what psychologists call ''hypomania'': an energetic, ebullient state that is a milder form of the mania associated with bipolar illness..... ''These people have a boldness and a self-confidence that sets them apart from the average citizen,'' Cass asserts. ''Hypomania is great for business.''"

from a piece on American hypomania

and here's a bit on stagflation possibly making a come back (cheers to Ed Torpey for the link)

strictly speaking it has no real applicability, but for some reason--just the sheer ugliness of the word maybe--"stagflation" seems like a good word to describe the state o' modern music: the combination of glut without growth. but then i speak with the jaundiced ear of one who's just gone through his backlogged stacks (in chaos after 2 years-plus focus on the Big Project), sorting and sifting, and finding a preponderance of "pretty good" stuff. Well, you could say that's cos i already sifted out the Exceptional on a week by week basis, but even so.... with so much of this pretty-good-but stuff, it's obvious how much care and effort and moderate inventiveness has gone into the records (this especially the case with electronic and dance releases, but also underground rap, indie-rock....), the integrity and intent behind it too, and yet who has room in their life to accomodate all this self-expression? But even with the hardest of hearts and sternest of ears, at the end of the week-long purge, there still survived a small mountain range of CD stacks stretching across the floor, arrayed according to current/reissue and urgent/not-so-urgent, and with an especially disheartening alp of deserves-another-listen-i-spose cresting above the other piles. At my estimate 400 hours of listening!