A world gone nuts:

The planet cannot sustain the gluttony of the United States or the waste of the vain, disposable society it has developed into.   Consumerism, the mentality of constant gratification buy purchasing items for the sake of purchasing it and the disposable society developed in the United States in the post World War II era is killing the planet.  Somehow we have let the products we have represent who we are as oppose to ourselves representing ourselves.  It is much easier to hide a bad soul behind nice cloths and a fancy new car every other year since those have become the idols of worship.

There is no better example of the coming change in American consumerism and the implications it brings than to the big three auto companies.  First, do we need a new car every two or three years?  Today’s vehicles will last ten years easily.  I find it ironic that Congressional Democrats who have long complained of the auto industry and the problems their products create for the environment and in the past two months spent more money saving it than they have forever on climate change.  Add to that the amount of funds to be spent fixing, repairing or building new paths for these pollution generators to spread their poison. 

Another big change that represents a vast change coming to the American and Global economy is represented by the News Paper industry and paper industry in general.   Technology is replacing many of the jobs in the industry namely in the physical aspects of the industry (the paper).  We still need reporters to gather and write the stories.  God knows they need editors.   No one gets paid unless there are advertising sales and accountants and of course the geeks that make all of them functional.   What is gone is the newsprint makers, delivery drivers, printing press operators and the storage for all that inventory in its many stages of production.  Imagine the elimination the US postal service and all the stuff they bring us.  All the loggers, paper mills, ink suppliers, truckers, and the energy they use no longer required.  How much will the economy save from not incurring the storage and sorting expenses? 

The digital era of newspapers eliminates many jobs and entire industries are no longer required.  News papers are not the only business that these impacts are occurring. 

We have at least three major economic themes coinciding at this focal point in history:

·         Technological obsolescing

·         Globalization

·         Consumerism

Technical obsolescing and globalization are the driving forces that are changing consumerism by driving wages and income down. 

The American economy is maturing from a growth economy to a mature economy.  

We need a different economic model for the new economy of the 21^st Century!  The problem with economists, politicians and planners is they only know how to draw straight line regressions and economic and social leaps are beyond their models capabilities.   What happens to all those people when the whole economy experiences what is happening to the newspaper industry? 

It is the challenge of my generation to manage the transition from one economic structure to a new one.  Social values will change, must change in order to facilitate the reality of what will be.  The digital economy has dramatic unforeseen consequences and Adams Smiths invisible hand is about to sweep much of the old away. 

How much smaller will the economy be if there were no text books, but knowledge was available 24/7 digitally for pennies?  School district budgets would shrink and college students would save thousands of dollars over the course of the studies.

So much of our economy is based on the production of stuff we do not want, does not maintain its utility, and we cannot get rid of.  How much of our economy is based on extracting stuff, to produce stuff we put in the dump and will not decompose?  How much energy was expended in the design, marketing, selling, administering, producing, storing and transporting that stuff?

The idols of consumption and the honoring of excess will no longer be the role models of the new economy.  The frugal and productive will gain the respect of their communities.

The Economy of the 21^st Century.

The United States economy is the aggregation of Americans living and acting on their personal values.   Actions reflect the values of the individual much better than the words they use, plus you can measure and follow it.  Wages, income and wealth have significant influence on our consumerism values.  As wages and incomes decline significantly consumerism values will change.  Necessity will force us to learn that food, drink, friends and family are more important than the accumulation of stuff from Wal-Mart.

Energy: 

Harvesting the natural energies of the planetary system and distributing it will become the focus of energy economy.     

Employment:

We will always have those in the industrial sector manufacturing the cables, wires and the physical aspects of life, and nature  will continue to have seasons and with that the natural  process of maintain, repair, replace will continue. 

The digital economy will be significantly more efficient and the planet will be much better off for it.   Food, shelter, transportation, emergency services, information, entertainment, education there are many parts of the economy will flourish.  

Government

Government must - will become rational consumers or they will be replaced.  Two glaring examples of government values gone wrong are Yellowstone Park and New Orleans.

I think New Orleans is pretty self explanatory of the government values gone wrong from an economic sense.  Why would anyone expend scare resources to keep a city 50 feet below sea level dry?  What benefit does the economy derive from those costs?  I understand the human emotional element; those are the exact values that are going to change because they make no economic sense. 

Yellowstone is a spectacular place that could create Giga-watts of clean renewable power given to us by nature.  When President Teddy Roosevelt created Yellowstone as National Park we did not know what it was or understand it the natural process going on there.  Today, it has become a Disneyland with animals.  When Americans values change to where we harvest the clean energy of Yellowstone Park and learn to use the natural energy of the caldera to stabilize it and power our economy we will have arrived at the 21^st economy.

One last comment on Government since it will see a significant consolidation and regional governments will emerge out of the current structure.  Let us take a look at Thurston County Washington.  A relatively small piece of land with maybe 400,000 people with the Federal Government, State of Washington, Thurston County and various city governments like Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Yelm.  Do the citizens of Lacey really need city policy, county sheriff and state patrol?  Think of all the duplication and economic cost with no economic benefit.  It is called waste and it will be eliminated in the new economy.

As much as moving from the dark ages was a monumental movement in human history, or the discovery of fire, or the development of the agriculture society, or the movement into the industrial age, the digital economy is the beginning of the age of enlightenment.  Many are waiting for December 21, 2012 to see what happens and it is my expectation from an economic perspective it will be ten-fold the impact of Y2K.  

The new economy of the 21^st Century or the Age of Enlightenment and the human race apparently are right on time for their collision, one that has been predicted over the ages by many seers:  Mayan, Hopi, and Nostradamus just to name a few.

The digital age will lay waste to our current economic systems and idle many of the planets population.  Between the economic dislocation and the threat of consolidation of government rule, will create the choice for humans on which path to follow, a new era of enlightenment, information and efficiency or more control, war and force by all those that would otherwise lose dominion over the masses as in the first choice.  We already know the answer, “the meek shall inherit the earth”, but will we listen?