Raymond Alvarez: A strange thing happened on the way to the real estate apocalypse. It didn’t happen.
Pundit and journalist alike had everyone looking the wrong way. But, who can blame them? How can you ignore the plethora of foreclosure signs on the way into the office? It turns out they weren’t looking hard enough for more signs.
Continue reading… “The apocalypse that wasn’t”
Student debt is a dangerous bubble that is piling unprecedented levels of debt on young people.
Houses and cars power recoveries. And young people aren’t buying either. That’s a New York Fed study conclusion and that can be easily read as blaming student debt for holding back the recovery by squashing home and auto sales.
Continue reading… “Are student loans wrecking the economy?”
Latest data says 2.16 million people have quit their jobs.
Americans are voluntarily quitting their jobs at the highest rate since the pre-recession era, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey — known as JOLTS — published by The Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Continue reading… “Number of Americans quitting their jobs at the highest rate in five years”
The average CEO makes more in an hour than his or her average employee makes in a month.
The rise of extreme income and wealth inequality is one of the biggest crises in the American economy. One of the causes of the wealth inequality is the bizarre consensus that, when it comes to the pay scales of the people at the top, there’s no such thing as “too much.”
Continue reading… “The average CEO makes 380 times as much as the average employee”
Marina Gorbis, author of The Nature Of The Future: Dispatches From The Socialstructed World, argues we are moving away from the depersonalized world of institutional production toward a new economy built on social connections and rewards–a process she calls socialstructing.
Continue reading… “The currency of the future will be your reputation”
Small business is an American cultural icon. Companies with fewer than 500 employees account for almost two-thirds of net new jobs and generate 13 times more new patents per employee than large ones do. But optimism among these enterprises is at its lowest levels in almost 20 years. If the US economy had generated as many start-ups in the Great Recession’s aftermath as it did in 2007, the country would have almost 2.5 million more jobs.
Continue reading… “Small business is big”
Internet of Things exists, but often badly.
If you track the Q rating of tech trends, then you know the cloud is so last minute and big data is good for little more than wrapping fish at Whole Foods. For 2013, it’s all about the Internet of Things. But, for the Internet of Things to succeed it is going to need an economy supported by developers who can rely on open standards and APIs.
Continue reading… “Why the Internet of Things needs to create its own economy”
Share everything
At Union Kitchen in Northeast Washington, D.C., the “equipment library” contains some of the more mundane artifacts of the modern “sharing economy”: an oversized whisk, a set of spatulas, ladles, chopping knives, sheet pans and tongs. It is also know as “collaborative consumption,” and is more often associated with the big-ticket items that have given the concept such bemusing cachet. Suddenly, it seems, people are casually lending and borrowing cars, bikes, even brownstones. But this basic kitchenware, hanging in a 7,300 square-foot warehouse, reveals the reaches to which all this sharing could ultimately expand, as well as the reasons why it will have to.
Continue reading… “The sharing economy – the way we consume has changed forever”
The Great Recession and the weak recovery darkened the retirement picture for significant numbers of Americans.
A majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents for the first time since the New Deal. This jeopardizes a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing consensus of new research.
Continue reading… “Most future retirees face fiscal troubles”
Fracking rig in North Dakota.
Today’s North Dakota, flush in its energy frenzy, has been characterized “the luckiest place on earth” by Chip Brown. His New York Times Magazine article showed chief executives and miners both giddy about their topographical luck and only slightly nervous that this boom would end as the last ones have ended in a bust.
Continue reading… “Is the miraculous North Dakota boom over?”
Business formation at a 30-year low.
There has been a decline in new business formations. The decrease in the number of jobs per new startup are causing innovation stagnation. The reason? Consumer confidence is very low.
Continue reading… “Startups at a 30-year low”
Opportunities in China have generated high expectations from the elders and potential spouses of this new professional class.
China produces 600,000 engineering graduates every year. A former Google product manager thought hiring a good engineer would be easy when he launched his startup, Julu Mobile, in China in 2011. He learned hiring the best wouldn’t be easy.
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.