Fiscal responsibility, gangnam style

America's deficit-reduction pitchmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson spent the fall barnstorming business groups and newspaper editorial boards, hoping to whip up support for a "grand bargain" after the election that would fairly and gradually balance the nation's books.

Now the folksy Simpson is reaching out to younger generations - and doing so in a memorable way. A new video from an organization called "The Can Kicks Back" shows the 81-year-old former Wyoming senator learning the gangnam-style dance popularized by South Korean pop star PSY.

Simpson urges young people to start using social media to promote debt solutions, and urges them to enlist friends in the debt-reduction cause. The slogan for the group is one that the straight-talking, sometimes profane Simpson could have come up with: "The Debt is Too Damn High."

Simpson urges action soon because otherwise, "Boy, those old coots will clean out the Treasury before you get there.''

As always, Simpson looks like he's having fun with the dance and the whole concept. Representing a state filled with cowboys may have given him an edge learning the lasso and horseback riding moves at the heart of the dance.

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Jill Burcum is a Star Tribune editorial writer.