So I'm wondering what it is that the U.S. economy is actually going to produce to create wealth, jobs, tax revenue and human delight. What will a 24-year-old community college graduate living in Dayton, Ohio be doing for a living four years from now? Anyone have any ideas?
Keep in mind that we're in a really weird time right now. Five years ago, Facebook didn't exist. 10 years ago, "social networking" wasn't even a thing. The kid entering college right now may have jobs available to him when he graduates that aren't even thought of yet.
The problem is the mentality that you share here:
If we look back through history, in fact, we will see that wealth has always been created be actual stuff: spices and silk, slaves and cotton, war production and automobiles, highways and consumer goods, routers and porn.
Yes, wealth used to be "actual stuff." No more - we're now an economy that peddles more than things, but instead peddles services, ideas, and other fanciful ideas that my grandfather would likely have scoffed at. We're a society that favors innovation over interchangeable parts, and there's work to be done to acclimate the economy again to this.
We'll get there, though.
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Date: 5/11/10 16:40 (UTC)Keep in mind that we're in a really weird time right now. Five years ago, Facebook didn't exist. 10 years ago, "social networking" wasn't even a thing. The kid entering college right now may have jobs available to him when he graduates that aren't even thought of yet.
The problem is the mentality that you share here:
If we look back through history, in fact, we will see that wealth has always been created be actual stuff: spices and silk, slaves and cotton, war production and automobiles, highways and consumer goods, routers and porn.
Yes, wealth used to be "actual stuff." No more - we're now an economy that peddles more than things, but instead peddles services, ideas, and other fanciful ideas that my grandfather would likely have scoffed at. We're a society that favors innovation over interchangeable parts, and there's work to be done to acclimate the economy again to this.
We'll get there, though.