We don't need repair of the economy, we need a complete re-evaluation

There is an aspect of our economy that is revolutionary and inescapable, yet it is not being addressed. Professional jobs are being lost to software and Internet tools that are so easy to use there is no longer a need to hire an expert. Internet connectivity makes communication so easy that there is no longer the need for some media specialists. Amateurs now have easy access to tools that used to require special training to use. So why hire someone when you or your kid can do it now easily and cheaply?

Take photography for example. Learning how to use the camera, how to develop the film, how to frame and set up a shot, made photography a specialty. Now, you buy a nice camera, point and shoot, maybe tweak it a little in Photoshop, and voila. Clay Shirky in his book Here Comes Everybody mentions an example where a company sought photos from a professional and was quoted $100 per photo. Competitive photos were found on istockphoto.com for $1 per photo.
The speed and easy access of the Internet makes for competition for information providers like newspapers and TV stations. Bloggers have developed into serious contenders for readership in the journalism field. Huffingtonpost.com and talkingpointsmemo.com are two examples of news web sites that are getting serious traffic.

Videographers and editors are getting serious competition from kids in their bedrooms with their own video cameras and computers. The group Anonymous, for example, has made some stunning videos about their war with Scientology, one of which has received almost three and a half million views. As Shirky says, “If everyone can do something, it is no longer rare enough to pay for, even if it is vital.” (Shirky, p. 79)

While many professions now struggle with equally-equipped amateurs for customers, so also the normal methods of product purchase is set to be turned on its head. Kevin Kelly, editor of Wired Magazine, says that “Very likely, in the near future, I won't 'own' any music, or books, or movies. Instead I will have immediate access to all music, all books, all movies using an always-on service, via a subscription fee or tax. I won't buy – as in make a decision to own -- any individual music or books because I can simply request to see or hear them on demand from the stream of ALL. I may pay for them in bulk but I won't own them. The request to enjoy a work is thus separated from the more complicated choice of whether I want to 'own' it. I can consume a movie, music or book without having to decide or follow up on ownership.” (http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/01/better_than_own.php) Salesman jobs are going to change or be eliminated.

So while it is essential to work on shoring up our economy after the recent collapse, it is also important to see that a large portion of our system of how we earn a living is changing before our eyes. It's not just time for repair, it's time for a complete re-evaluation.

Saving billions by legalizing pot

http://www.talkbuds.com/showthread.php?t=14

Sounds good to me. I'm going to compile all the ways we could SAVE money. Why isn't Obama talking about NOT SPENDING SO MUCH instead of SPENDING MORE???

Your new home, for only $1000!

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/08/real_estate/thousand_dollar_homes/index.htm

For people who work online and don't need to be in any particular geographic location, this looks like a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Maybe a physical community of bloggers will develop?

I guess money really is everything to billionaires

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/business/worldbusiness/07merckle.html?hp

Another billionaire commits suicide over the economic downturn. Is there really nothing more to live for if your portfolio dives? If that was the case, I'd be heading over to the train station myself. But it seems to me family, friends, and just life itself are worth much more than money.

If these millionaires keep commiting suicide over the economy, then we'll know that homeless people are tougher than rich people.

A billion here, a billion there...

Bush already got $700 billion for a bailout, now Huffingtonpost.com says Obama wants $775 billion to stoke the fires of the economy. This seems to me like tearing up the train cars and throwing the wood into the engine. Sure, you get farther down the track, but what do you have once you get there? The government seems to have decided that money can be produced out of thin air with no repercussions. But all this money will have to be borrowed from somewhere and paid back at some time.

I think the smarter thing is to cut the size of government (especially the defense department), hunker down and ride this recession out, not invite huge inflation and bankruptcy in the future.

My article on Internet social activism

http://www.lisamcpherson.org/pc.htm

I got 3 hours of college credit toward my Political Science degree, so it's kinda bland. But it shows the power of community online and the amazing power such communities can have if they hit on a subject that persuades the hive to rumble to life.

Project Chanology, the collective action that formed from the Anonymous community, is a glimpse of the future.