Sushi Money

Spring sure feels good after a long winter, and now getting ready for summer. I find myself heading outside more often to enjoy the fresh air, clean up the landscaping and garage and ponder the various barbecue dinners for those warm summer evenings. I don’t know why, but then I start tinkering around with and trying to improve a lot of things both inside and outside the home.  That’s not so bad in itself, but then I start making a list of things we need from the store that will help fix or improve those things. 

Too many of us go shopping for a host of reasons other than finding something we really need.  We crave adventure and excitement, and it’s fun to buy things.  But after looking around the house and closets, we’re just buying junk that doesn’t help our family’s economic well-being.  If we’re not careful, we end up caught in viscious cycle that I call The Spending Loop.   

So there I am, wandering the aisles of the nearby big-box store filling up the cart with all kinds of stuff.  It’s a self-fulfilling spending loop that I’ve created from both a real and a perceived need to buy “things we need.”  Nothing wrong with that if spending is balanced against needs versus wants.  But too many of us don’t consider the difference.  When I head to the store to buy something, I’m half excited to be getting things that I think will help spruce up the house and keep it looking good.  

Yet sometimes, for all the good intentions we may have, a lot of that newly purchased stuff just ends up sitting on a shelf, and we don’t get around to finishing the projects we were really motivated about a few weeks earlier.   And if we’re not careful, that shopping and “sprucing up the house” can take on a life of its own, until it becomes a habit that takes real money out of the bank account over time, and we’re caught in that spending loop, piling on enormous debt over time. Honestly when I look in the garage and all the closets, I wonder if we really ever need anything else again!  Even the food pantry is too well stocked, but somehow I feel more secure with that. 

While acknowledging my impulse to head to the landscaping store to find just the right tool or hardware item, I’ve made an effort over the last few months to avoid shopping for the sake of shopping and really think about if we need something or not.  The shopping aspect has never really been a problem, but I just realize that I’ll buy things that I don’t really need sometimes.  So while I still make lists and think of things we need to buy to help finish this project or that, I’m now trying not to rush right out and buy what I think we need right away.   After a few days, some of those items don’t seem so important anymore, and the impluse to go shopping is not as strong.

Maybe it’s part of modern society and our conditioning.  When we shop or buy something at the store we feel like we’ve “done” something and that simple act of buying something will help our situation.  Too often all that we’ve done is decreased the cash in the bank or gone deeper in debt on the credit card. 

If you recognize that smiley face above, it seems to imply a certain level of satisfaction or happiness.  Combine that with a shopping environment, and it’s no wonder why the smiley face was chosen to be associated with price comparisons.  Many of us crave adventure, excitement and something “new.”   And whether we admit it or not, we try to fulfill many of those cravings by going shopping, getting a good deal, or finding something “special.”  Let’s face it, sometimes it really is fun and exciting, especially if you’re buying something you really want. 

But it’s short-lived satisfaction for the most part.  The experience and the excitement is momentary.  Far better to seek adventure and excitement in healthy, practical ways such as working outdoors, gardening, hiking or playing sports.

So while I’m in the midst of a host of spring cleaning chores, I’m working on getting all those other things accomplished that don’t cost much extra money to undertake.  If I really think about it, sometimes my desire to go shopping for “stuff we need” is a disguised effort to procrastinate or improve something else so I don’t have to deal with the stuff I don’t want to finish right now.

I’m no psychologist, but I’m sure there’s a host of other dysfunctional reasons that we go shopping, spend money and buy stuff we don’t need.   Sometimes it’s just plain fun.  But it’s too darn easy to go through money like crazy, much to the delight of the retail store business.    I’m still looking at the shopping issue, and trying to educate a child as well.  Even with kids, their eyes light up when they have a chance to buy something.  So we need to find balance and a healthy approach to spending money when we need to, and avoid the cycle of spending money for no reason at all.

Are there other strategies we can use to structure our shopping needs?  Credit and debit cards are really too easy to use.  Is something like the household budget really an effective tool to prevent binge shopping, or buying stuff we don’t need?   Not for me, at least a lot of the time.   Do you see a better way?    It’s a continuing issue for so many of us, and without really looking at the issue within the family, a lot of people are going to struggle financially while remaining stuck within the spending loop.  But it’s time to break free, to be a little more honest with ourselves, and to begin restructuring our goals toward positive, long term financial outcomes.

Have you had enough of recession-talk yet?  I’ve finally reached the point where if we are in a recession, or if we will be in a recession simply doesn’t matter.  U.S. economic growth has slowed down in many areas.  It may slow even more, or it may pick up a bit.  In either case we’re muddling along looking for new ways to grow the economy.  It’s really not that bad statistically, and yet even with mild economic data, the nation’s mood is gloomy. 

“If you compare where the economy was at the end of March [2008] with where we were at the beginning of the year, there is no question the economy is down by just about every measure,” said Martin Feldstein, the former chief economic adviser to Ronald Reagan who now heads the National Bureau of Economic Research, which formally “declares” U.S. recessions.

Many folks are worried about the job market and are struggling with the worst housing slump in decades. But it also seems that talking about what’s wrong with the economy is like a sport or play-by-play event for the media these days. Everybody’s asking, “Are we there yet?” while some people proclaim that the recession is just beginning.

“Even if the capital markets crisis resolves, it does not mean that this country will not go into a bad recession,” said JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon, whose bank saw its first-quarter profit fall by half due to the recent collapse of the U.S. mortgage market. “The recession just started.”

Well, okay.  That’s all fine and dandy.  But while the media keeps looking for a story to spin, one of these days people are going to tire of all the negativisim and look for more positive, constructive approaches to daily life and rebuilding the economy. 

It is an election year of course, and the politicians will continue bashing each other for what’s wrong with our current situation.  But they had better start thinking about 2009.  Whoever wins the election this year is going to have their work cut out for them.  I don’t know about you, but come next year I want all the problems solved!  Lower gas and food prices, a growing economy, a rising stock market, and peace across the world.  A little unrealistic to be sure, but sometimes we need to step back and gain a little perspective.

It could always be a lot worse, such as for the more than 18,000 people in China or between 60,000 to 100,000 people in Myanmar who have perished in recent weeks.  Katrina was pretty bad, but was not even comparable to what these nations are dealing with.  In Myanmar the government is barely acknowledging the devastation and not allowing humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it. And while the people of Myanmar wait desparately to get help, their government is keeping the food for its own purposes.  That’s one of the problems with dictatorships. The numbers of human lives affected are staggering to consider, and what is left for the living will take years of rebuilding. 

From the context of natural disasters, most of us are doing pretty well.  Regardless of how gloomy one feels about the U.S. economy, it’s really pretty darn good compared to most places around the world.  We’ve talked about recessions before, and what’s important.

But on an individual level I submit that what you call it really doesn’t matter.  What matters is what we are doing individually and collectively to improve opportunity and economic well-being for ourselves and our families. 

Nobody enjoys paying so much money for gas, or cutting back spending in a lot of areas just to get by.  But this is where we are, and I find myself looking for ways to appreciate and improve our lives regardless of the challenges. We the living must continue to grow and build our lives and families.  When the economic news starts getting tiresome, a little perspective goes a long way.

Okay, the rebate check is in the bank and we’re going through the budget again.  I was shaking my head at the price of groceries and gas today, but it’s hard to see much of an economic slowdown by the amount of traffic out on the roads.  People must be cutting back though because everything has gone up in price recently. I’ve even heard some of the restaurants are struggling. 

We’re learning like never before how fuel prices really impact consumers and the needs of the family.  Simple things such as a trip to a nearby town are put off until really necessary, and I find myself driving a lot slower than I used to.  Some enterprising automaker should come up with a really efficient vehicle they call the Frugal.   I’d call it our Family Frugal and drive it proudly around.  Not a very sexy name perhaps, but heck I’m all about practical efficiency these days.  Actually it sounds kind of like a Volkswagon… Das Familie Frugal.

Ah but we use fuel for more than our vehicles.  We use propane fuel for some of our winter heating needs, and I usually fill the tank in late spring each year.  But with oil prices out of control, propane prices are crazy high too.  Do I fill the tank now, or wait until next fall or winter?  I’m inclined to wait and see if somebody… anybody, will do something about the rampant speculation in the oil markets out there.  At some point these high prices are bound to blow off.  It’s bad enough with gasoline, but the debate even involves diesel fuel supplies which are tighter and more expensive.  It’s a problem we need to solve because it affects everything- driving cars, trucking and transportation for goods, grocery prices, heating, etc, etc.

Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Highways and Transit Subcommittee generally agreed that diesel prices have risen faster than gasoline prices, and that increases are reflected in higher food and merchandise costs. But they broke along party lines in suggesting ways to address the problem.”The conventional wisdom is that speculation provides liquidity to the market. But when you have a huge entry of people who have no intention of taking delivery of a commodity but are merely interested in making money by bidding prices higher, that’s a different matter,” Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), the subcommittee’s chairman, said in his opening statement.

But Tyson Slocum, energy program director at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, agreed with DeFazio that speculators are exerting an unhealthy influence on energy commodity markets. “A certain amount of speculation or hedging is essential. But we have a financial bubble resulting from too much speculation. About 95% of the trades today do not involve taking delivery,” he said.

DeFazio still was interested in the possible impact of speculators on oil prices. “What would it hurt to have trades no longer opaque and off the books?”

I’m a pro-business, free market kind of guy, but when you have a critical commodity that drives every aspect of the national economic engine, how can we allow speculators and commodity investors to leverage investments in oil contracts that will never be delivered?  And if oil prices just keep going up, can the U.S. economy and consumers even survive in that environment?

Here’s one for you:  Just yesterday I was talking with the local propane company manager about fuel prices and my propane bill, and he spoke of a close friend who was a truck driver.  This guy regularly drove from the midwest roundtrip to the south and southwest, but his normal routine was to fill up his truck’s fuel tanks in Mexico!   “Why does he do that?” I asked, and the answer was that truckers can buy a cheap $20 pass to cross the border to buy fuel and they pay half the price for gas and diesel that we pay in the U.S.!   

Why does gasoline or diesel fuel cost half as much right across the border in Mexico than it does in the U.S.?

I don’t know how accurate that is, but the propane company manager I spoke with said it was true.  Perhaps Mexico has more reserves for oil, more drilling, more refineries… oh, maybe that’s why it costs less?   Even so, should petroleum products be half-price just across the border?  If it is, then we’re doing something wrong here in the U.S.  Hey, maybe we can tie in some of the immigation issues with cross-border agreements for oil or fuel?

But with the economy still teetering on the edge of a recession, at least Alan Greenspan thinks that ”the worst of the credit crisis is behind us.”   But what about inflationary costs to consumers for fuel and grocery prices?  I’m really not sure what Congress is doing beyond posturing and looking at raising taxes.  Is raising taxes on fuel and energy companies going to save consumers money?  I don’t think so.

I’m still calling for a U.S. Energy Summit however.  We’re not going to get anywhere if people don’t stop pointing fingers.  They need to sit down and map out the issues- start taking proactive measures and move forward with a plan for the nation. 

But in other news at the homefront, we’re busy planting a garden this year.  A different kind of fuel for the family perhaps, and another way to live a little more frugally.  With a little bit of space, how hard is it really to grow a few vegetables?  Especially tomatoes, but this year we’re even planting corn.  It’s much cheaper to grow your own, but admittedly it does take some effort to get started.  But if we’re successful and have enough veggies, it will cut down on the grocery bill.  And we hope to freeze and put up some of the extra to last into winter.  Now if I could figure out how to grow our own fuel for the cars we’d really be doing well. 

 Even with a challenging economy and dynamic swings in stock prices, the market has begun to advance over the last couple of months.  While the U.S. economy teeters on the edge of recession, is it really that bad out there? That certainly depends on your individual situation, but for the most part we’re managing to get by, even with gas and commodity prices that are out of control.  Interest rates have dropped quite a bit and that’s provided some relief to homeowners with ARM loans.

But is the Fed finished cutting rates?  Many experts believe so, and that from here will be a long pause to allow the economy to work its way back into growth mode.  Maybe the Fed Has Bought Enough Anti-Recession Insurance for now.  But we’ve got to put our money to work somewhere, and for most of us that means staying invested even in difficult times.

The amount of negativity about the economy and markets have been amazing this past year, and Jason Zweig’s near-contrarian view offers some good advice for Why Acting Bearish is a Dumb Move.

“This has been one ferocious stock market. Not only has Wall Street been flirting with a bear market - conventionally defined as a 20% decline in the major indexes - but we’re now in “the second-worst eight-year period for stocks since the 1930s,” says money manager Martha Ortiz of Aronson Johnson & Ortiz in Philadelphia.”

“…a growing chorus of bears thinks that the worst is yet to come and that investors should get out of the market. After all, everyone knows stocks will keep sagging since it’s obvious the economy is sinking into recession, right?”

“Even if the economy is headed for real trouble, don’t assume that your portfolio is too. Larry Swedroe, director of research at Buckingham Asset Management, notes that the U.S. economy has experienced 11 recessions since World War II. From the first day of those economic contractions to the last, stocks still managed to deliver average gains of 7.1% vs. 5.1% for cash.”

Bottom line?  Stay invested, stay long, and focus on living positively each day.  It’s not always easy to do, but I try to tune out the economic noise, and remember what’s important at home and with family.   If there’s something I’ve learned from this almost-recession and high gas and grocery prices, it’s that we really don’t need a lot of the things we spend money on.

Cutting back spending and becoming more frugal isn’t that difficult.  I don’t know about you, but when I save money or do something more efficiently, it really makes me feel good in other areas of my life.  It helps me to focus on the important aspects of life, and the goals I have for personal growth.  I’m not tied to worries or stress about the market, and how my retirement funds are doing.  

It’s about improving the quality of our lives and experience versus the quantity of something that is always changing.  

Laura Rowley describes it very well as feeling blessed. 

“Money can certainly buy us a measure of freedom or security, but money itself is none of those things. If we think money is security, we’ll never amass enough to feel secure. If we think it’s freedom, we’ll never earn enough to be free.”

“Once we remove the emotional baggage, we can acknowledge that money is just one component to achieve our goals instead of an all-encompassing solution. If freedom is a value, we have to ask which people, qualities, and experiences have made us feel most free in the past: Where do I need to live to be around those people? What should I do for my work, and how should I spend my leisure time? How much money do I need to help me create a life with those qualities and experiences? Being as specific as possible about how to manifest these qualities in our lives will keep us from running on the hedonic treadmill.” 

“… long-term flourishing requires discipline, persistence, hard work, faith, and, most important, pursuing goals that are close to your heart and based on your personal gifts.”

When we take time to appreciate what we do have in our lives, we begin to understand more about ourselves, our relationships and where we want to go.  It’s an essential part of the process of discovery, not only for whatever personal gifts we possess, but for the direction of the journey itself.  

Is money the reason for the journey?   Not by a long shot.  But it certainly helps.  A little balance and reflection helps even more.  Growing our money, like growing our lives, takes time and staying invested.  Money provides a lot of things in life, but it can’t buy long term happiness.  Money is simply a tool to take along the journey.  Sure it’s important, but if we forget our goals and what’s important in our lives, then we really haven’t gone anywhere have we?

It’s amazing how high fuel prices have gone this year.  In short, like many Americans, I’ve simply had enough of paying so much for gas.  Honestly, it’s such a total waste of money don’t you think? The quality of the ride we’re getting at $3.50 a gallon for driving doesn’t feel any better than it did at $2.25 a gallon.  For the increased price of fuel there is no additional satisfaction or more importantly, no contribution to a greater good gained from paying more to do the same thing with a gallon of gas.  It’s actually worse, and a waste of money.  And that’s the rub for most of us.

So what am I doing about it?  Personally we’ve already drastically reduced our vehicle use, and are investigating more fuel efficient cars for the future.  But that really doesn’t change much in the face of rising prices, except maintaining the status quo.  And I just don’t think the status quo is good enough anymore. I was looking back over the past 12 months and was surprised that we were paying almost a dollar less per gallon for several months last year.  Then in late summer, prices began a slow climb, spiking after the new year and reaching an average of $3.50 a gallon this week.

So now, with a humble voice from the wilderness, I’m calling for an Energy Summit for Congress, the Administration and leading oil company experts to sit down and begin devising a strategy to take the nation out of the grip of oil dependence.  Not a new theme, but has any legislator or administration official proposed anything constructive in the face of oil price inflation?  Sure oil company executives have been called on the carpet to testify before Congress, but to what end?  Grandstanding by politicians to make us think they’re doing something? Do we realistically think companies that are in business to make a profit should start to not work to make a profit?  Is that going to benefit our economy and those who need the fuel these companies produce?  Does anyone really think that making oil companies the scapegoats will solve America’s oil dependence problems?   More importantly, has the SEC or any governing body investigated the impact of energy sector speculation or the influence that the rise of sovereign wealth funds have had on market dynamics?

As much as I believe that the the U.S. is being driven towards a greater economic crisis due to energy impacts, my frustration is really a personal issue. Which is due to the simple fact that the engine of the U.S. economy is ultimately distilled into the basic economic units of individuals and families as consumers.   We are the spending sparks of economic activity that drives this great machine, and our ability to do so is being damaged with each passing day. 

A few weeks ago I took a short poll asking if high gas prices have affected people’s driving habits.  After a fairly small response, more people indicated that gas prices only affected them “a little”, while the others said “a lot.”  But gas prices really had only been higher for a couple of months.  I’m willing to bet more people would indicate “a lot” today, and over the next few months as fuel prices remain higher.  Have you changed your driving habits?

It’s not just fuel prices though- it’s also the economic costs passed on to consumers because of fuel prices, and higher commodity prices that are causing turmoil across the nation.   So I’m the first to admit that fuel prices and grocery prices affect our family’s choices every single day.  And I feel fortunate, because technically we can afford to drive our cars, commute to work and do what is necessary each day.  So consumers are starting to feel pinched?  I think that’s an understatement.

With higher prices something else is given up to accomplish the same tasks.  We don’t go out and eat or visit new places as often as we used to.  And we won’t be traveling as much this year as last year.  We even cancelled a longer vacation we had already planned for the summer because of fuel costs.  We take fewer trips to the store, and the discretionary funds we normally spent on nice-to-have items or entertainment in the past are being used for basic needs such as food and putting gas in the tank to get to work.

But there are many other families who can barely afford to get to work or put food on the table each day.  I’ve read of some who may not have the money to pay for gas for a trip to the doctor or hospital. Many Americans live in rural areas and must travel extensively to get to work and fulfill basic needs.  High fuel prices hurt those who must travel greater distances especially hard.  This nation is larger than most nations in the world- and driving long distances is something we are accustomed to.  We are not accustomed to enormous prices for gas to be able to get to the doctor or the grocery store.

So is the government doing enough?   Is Congress and the President’s administration taking these issues seriously enough?Perhaps what really bothers me is that maybe they’ve collectively looked at it and simply shrugged, without really putting a plan together to do something about it.  The U.S. says oil prices are too high, but no one seems to have any idea what to do about it.  Instead, we push for biofuel production and increase demand for oil.  Yet biofuel production soaks up oil supplies and is being blamed for increasing hunger across third world nations as it drives up commodity prices, challenging the ability of support organizations and governments to get food supplies to people in need.

So what is going to solve the oil conundrum?   Do we not have the technology and ability to find more oil and ramp up production?  Or do we lack the collective will as a nation to do what’s necessary, simply remaining dependent on other nations for our oil needs and paying whatever the market demands?  Tapping the Strategic Reserve isn’t going to solve anything over the long term either.  I simply think we can do more as a nation to support the American family’s needs at home, that would also serve to strengthen the U.S. economy for the long term.

My hope is that we’ll see Congress and the Administration get together an conduct an Energy Summit to put a plan in place that will  support the nation’s needs.  New energy, alternative energy, new research, and yes- more oil to fulfill the nation’s needs.  One day perhaps we’ll find the holy grail that relieves our dependence on oil.  But the U.S. economy is tied to oil for countless needs right now and we risk being economically crippled for too many years if we don’t start working together more aggressively.

We are better than this dependence, and we need a little more forward thinking by our elected leadership.  We’ve put off the energy debate for so many years it’s now come back to haunt us.  Whether we enter or are in a recession now is beside the point. Consumers are spending more on fuel and food, and less on everything else.  And I think it’s a threat to our nation’s economic viability over the long term. That’s simply got to change. 

Here’s the video of the original version of Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. Simply beautiful. I remember I heard this before and never knew who sang it. Now I know, and I’m thankful I know a little of his life and how many friends he had.

While we read of so many challenges across the nation, and the unpredictability of the markets, I think it’s important to remember what we do have. To love and appreciate the people and relationships in our lives, and the simple good that we find around us. Being able to frame the context of life and our perceptions with something greater in the moment, and to look with hope towards the future… perhaps that’s what this song brings forth. Have a great day.

The news and numbers are pretty negative lately. The economy is struggling, real estate is looking for traction, the markets are bouncing around aimlessly, and Clinton and Obama are one-upping each other with promises while talking about how bad everything is. If I didn’t know better, this feels like it’ll go on forever. But it won’t. It’s just a temporary funk. Mostly an economic funk. We’ve been there before, and we’ll emerge with newfound optimism for something seemingly better.

But what is that something that might be better? What is the next big thing that people will really be excited and hopeful about? Do you ever wonder what it might be that’s going to be a huge focus for people or change on a mass scale? Sometimes it’s generated by the media, or a company product, or just some growing trend or mania that people are interested in.

Whatever it is (and I don’t think we’ll find it on eBay), there always seems to be some new “big thing” around the corner. Why do I care? For the same reason that most businesses, entreprenuers and investors care… because if you can put your finger on the pulse of this change and human interest, then you can focus your energy in that direction, potentially growing your life’s work and/or financial fortunes in leaps and bounds over the next 5, 10 or even 20 years.

Looking back a couple decades, we’ve been through several cycles of boom and bust of course. Yet the “Dot Com Bust” still offered many opportunities to do very well even with the carnage of companies that ceased to exist a few years later. We hear the news of the crash and the fortunes lost. We don’t often hear about the fortunes made, but some people tapped into the right companies and trends and have done very well.

Now it’s real estate and credit derivatives that have crashed, and we’re unraveling the lessons of years of financial excess. A long-term view could see this growth, expansion, bust and consolidation as a natural progression and evolution for economic cycles and human interest. Can it be any other way?

Certainly the technological changes coming in the future will surpass anything we know of today, and I wonder where that may lead us. Bill Gates sees enormous technological advances that will revolutionize our lives:

In a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Gates speculated that some of the most important advances will come in the ways people interact with computers: speech-recognition technology, tablets that will recognize handwriting and touch-screen surfaces that will integrate a wide variety of information.

“I don’t see anything that will stop the rapid advance,” Gates said, noting that technological change driven by academia and corporate researchers continued even after the Internet stock bubble burst in 2000.” “…The coming years will bring rapid changes in media as television increasingly becomes a targeted medium, where viewers can select niche content for news, sports and entertainment. “…TV will be based on the Internet; it will be an utterly different thing,” he said.

My interest and curiosity is for how people become excited and accept or adopt certain products, and then figuring out what those trends or products might be. How do some companies (e.g. Apple) capitalize on what is “trendy” while other companies don’t?

When I try to understand how we become excited about things, it strikes me that these products or “things” must be developed by visionaries and market leaders. These are people with the imagination and the abililty to create something from an idea, and then shepard it through to adoption. Naturally this creation must not only be useful, it must be also be something that sparks the “Aha!” moment within a consumer for the enjoyment or usefulness it brings.

Not everyone accepts change so easily however. Little more than a decade ago as computer use became mainstream, I remember a stalwart, old associate that walked around the office with a big yellow legal pad and refused to use a computer. He waived that legal pad in everyone’s face, proud of how he still did it the old way. And then he finally realized the old way was gone, and he was becoming increasingly irrelevent and clueless. He finally adapted and adopted, painful as it was.

I know a lot of people who still use letters, stamps and paper checks everyday to pay bills. Not a thing wrong with that- and in fact, it brings a sense of solidity and permanence to things. But I know a lot more people that have given up the checkbook and stamps to pay bills online. It is fast becoming the exception to use stamps and checks for many people, myself included. But if you really want to make an impression, or send a caring note to someone, there is no substitute for writing it by hand.

Of course we’re still reeling from the last “big excess” and the after-effects of the “Housing Bust” and out-of-control mortgage lending. But think about it- not everyone has struggled with real estate. For everyone that bought a home, someone sold that home. Lots of folks made a bundle during the real estate boom, and if they were smart, saved enough of that money to keep it working for them over time.

The housing boom and bust is a story of money made and lost. For some families, financial gain (or loss) changed their lives forever. In a free market economy it can be no other way. Some people win big, some people lose big… most of us muddle along in the middle, looking for ways improve our lives as we adapt to changing conditions.

So there’s always excess… and most of the situations that involved speculative excess were caused by investors and even genuine buyers plunging in head-first to “stake their claim” and make money. The dot-com boom and housing boom were both the modern day version of the gold rush. We’re all trying to make life better for our future. For some it was always a “get rich quick” scheme whether they admitted it or not. “Slow and steady wins the race” is the old rabbit versus tortoise axiom. There’s a lot of truth in those words in terms of focus and comittment. But it’s hard to remember that axiom when the pace of technological change outstrips our ability to adapt and grow with it.

And that’s the crux of the problem for many people… how to adapt to change. Technology evolution challenges our ability to learn and adapt, which opens up a whole new focus for business services and education. That is precisely the reason why education is so important, and why job re-training is booming across the nation.  Where do you fit in?  Is it hard to keep pace with that change?   In the next segment I’ll look at 10 themes of change we’ll face in the years ahead.