Interesting take in the network that allows us to get together in cyberspace.

Mike

http://dailyreckoning.com/the-internet-is-a-dud/print/

The world today looks almost identical to the world of the 1960s because there have been very few important innovations since then. But you will leap to reply — the internet! Alas, electronic technology does not seem to noticeably increase output of stuff. The Internet affects our quality of life in many ways, but not our standard of living.

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The Internet cannot create GDP growth.

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The real federal deficit for 2012 is not $1.1 trillion as widely reported. Include unfunded Medicare and Social Security obligations and it is more than $7 trillion. GDP increased during the same period by about $320 billion. In other words, debt is going up 21 times faster than the economy that supports it. Already, if you reported the liabilities of the US government correctly, according to GAAP rules, such as every corporation is required to do, it would show a hole $86 trillion deep. And at the rate deficits accumulate, it will get twice as deep in the next ten years — to more than $150 trillion, or nearly 10 times the size of the economy.

Another way to look at this is to think again about how modern democracies finance themselves. Since the days of Bismarck, they take in money from citizens and pay much of it back, in the form of various social spending programs. The successful politician allows spending to outstrip revenues as much as possible, but not so much that he appears irresponsible. The more benefits he can plausibly promise to the voters, the more likely he is to gain power…and the more resources he can also shift to favored groups.

Growth over the last hundred years — in population, GDP, wages, prices — made it possible to expand government spending greatly, anticipating larger, richer generations that would support their smaller, poorer parents.

The mathematics of this system held up fairly well — until recently. Now, population growth rates are falling everywhere in the developed world — including the US, with a huge bulge of baby boomers preparing to retire and voting themselves the most lavish benefits in history. Without growth, this system of public financing is doomed to spectacular failure. More spending will not be better; it will be calamitous. The more dry debt tinder on the ground, the bigger the blaze.

"Alas, electronic technology does not seem to noticeably increase output of stuff. The Internet affects our quality of life in many ways, but not our standard of living." - Mike


Bonnie's mom (83) and her Aunt Patricia (76) live completely without having computers in their homes. They just have no interest in learning or bothering with it. No email can you imagine? Bonnie's mom does have a cell phone but only because her brother bought and pays for it for her. Aunt Pat doesn't have a cell phone even though she likes talking on the telephone. She just has some deal where she can call long distance through her land line.

Art

Bonnie's mom (83) and her Aunt Patricia (76) live completely without having computers in their homes.

My FIL (60) would just as soon never have a computer in his home. The only reason they have one (a laptop) is so my MIL can use it to look for coupons and such. They don't have FB, in fact refuse to get FB because the neighbor down the street let their daughter log into FB on their computer and it got a virus (which almost certainly didn't happen that way, more likely her hubby went lurking around some skeezy websites and ended up downloading malware that way).

The guy I'm taking over Committee Chair of my son's pack is a bit like that. I don't know how old he is but he has seven kids (six boys, one girl, the oldest 34 and the youngest 10) so he has to be around 60. His cellphone is just a cellphone, he made a point to tell me that. So I'm thinking there's a flaw in my Evernote plan for the pack... it works great with smartphones but is useless on a non-smartphone. I'll still have to use paper for lots of things, at least for as long as he's in the pack. Small price to pay for decades of experience!

Most everyone else involved in the pack is younger, most seem to be tech savvy. Some may be too poor to afford a home computer (as I've said in other posts we live on the poorer side of town) but they don't seem to volunteer for the committee anyway. Hell, I don't even have a laptop at the moment! If only I could find that money tree and solve that problem...

"His cellphone is just a cellphone, he made a point to tell me that." - colovion


Yeah, mine too. It's a little grey Samsung that I paid like ~ $10.00 for at Best Buy. My wife pays and extra $10.00/month to keep me on her plan. She wants me to have a phone in case her family need to reach me in an emergency. I've never sent a text message in my life and it flusters me when I get one. I rarely get texts so each time I have to re-figure out what to do to read it. No camera or internet or any of that stuff. Mostly I just use it to call people and vice-versa.

I do like having a cell phone though. It's especially handy on trips or when I'm out grocery shopping and I need to call my wife and ask her if she needs anything.

I was forced to start using computers when I worked at the UT Vet School. My old boss, Dr. Schroeder, told me I didn't have a choice. We did all our record keeping on the computer. Inventories, billing, etc. It was all done in Dbase III. I hired some computer science major to write the program for the Lab Animal Facility.

We charged researchers per diems for their animals. Otherwise they'd keep them forever even when they weren't using them. When they got that bill at the end of each month it reminded them that the animals were there and their research accounts were being charged.

Art

My mom has no computer, no cell phone, and doesn't even drive. She has never driven a car in her life. The only electronic thing she knows how to operate is the TV and VCR (well, DVD player now).

However, family members have gotten her to work an iPad a few times recently. She does that finger swipe motion thing to advance photos. She can do that. <g>