Futurist Thomas Frey: The total number of governmental bodies in the U.S. is approaching a staggering number – 90,000. During normal economic times there is plenty of money to go around, but now every city, state, county, parish, township, and special taxing district is competing for the same tax dollars that the federal government is.
As people live longer, some aspects of life are beginning to slow down
Futurist Thomas Frey: Tick, tick, tick. For virtually all working people, there is a clock ticking in the background. Tick, tick, tick.
Much like the rhythm of a beating heart, the sound of time creates a rhythm for our lives, a world unfolding in iambic pentameter, pulsing to the tempo of life.
Sales tax is a a system that is now on the verge of collapse
Futurist Thomas Frey: As a general rule, extreme levels of complexity take a significant toll on society. The price we pay for complexity is far greater than the money involved. With upwards of 90,000 separate taxing districts in the U.S. sales tax has become an overly complicated system deeply entrenched in the fabric of society, but woefully out of touch with the times.
Experimenting Our Way to Success – Reinventing Publishing Models
Futurist Thomas Frey: Amazon revolutionized book reading in 2007 when it introduced its Kindle book reader. Within the past three years, the explosive sale of book readers has caused a massive surge in the sale of e-books, already outpacing the sale of hardcover books, with a prediction by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos that they will outsell paperbacks within the next year.
Continue reading… “The Fall of Book Publishing: The Rise of New E-Book Business Models”
2015 global manufacturers will view the U.S. as equal to if not better-than China.
In March, U.S. exports hit a record $173 billion, up 15% from a year-ago and 37% from 2009. According to a new study from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the good times for “Made in America” are just getting started. (video)
Continue reading… “‘Made in America’ Making a Comeback: Study”
In the future, paper money may be displaced with digital points of a vendor.
Karl Dakin: The subject of how we will be paid and make payments in the future was presented at the DaVinci Institute’s Night with a Futurist on Monday night. The presentations covered potentially major changes in the way we conduct business and interact as a society as technological advances in mobile computing enable new ways of exchanging things of value.
Continue reading… “Predictions for money, currencies and payments”
Futurist Thomas Frey: Former Citigroup Chairman Walter Wriston once said, “Capital goes where it’s welcome and stays where it’s well treated.”
Philanthropy has traditionally been the interface between wealth and need. It gives pride to the wealthy, give purpose to those without, and gives hope to the underprivileged.
Building Culture, Striving for “Divine Context”
Futurist Thomas Frey: As we start to understand the way people connect with their local communities in the future, we begin to see a growing need for central gathering places to help drive person-to-person activities.
Business Colonies: Matching talent with pending work projects
Futurist Thomas Frey: The average person that turns 30 years old in the U.S. today has worked 11 different jobs. In just 10 years, the average person who turns 30 will have worked 200-300 different projects.
Continue reading… “Business Colonies: A study of structure, organization, and the evolution of work”
“The closest thing to a law of nature in business is that form has an affinity for expense,
while substance has an affinity for income” – Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa
Futurist Thomas Frey: Disintermediation is a term that sprung to life in the mid-1990s during the formative years of the Internet. Enterprising people learned very quickly that this new communication system could disintermediate, or bypass, many different layers of the business food chain and eliminate entire categories of decision makers both inside and outside of corporations.
Slashcasters, a new breed of pitchmen for the digital age of retail
Futurist Thomas Frey: I was recently asked to do the keynote talk at a retailer conference in Orlando, Florida speaking on the topic of what the future of retail may hold. At one point in the conversation, the caller made the comment that one of the biggest problems in retail is that consumers are evolving faster than retailers can adapt.
California patients wait for assistance at a marijuana dispensary.
It is called a lot of things: grass, pot, Mary Jane, wacky weed. Now, researchers are suggesting a new moniker for marijuana: alternative investment.
Continue reading… “Legal Pot is Sound Business at $1.7 Billion and Growing”