10 ways the new economy will look different

[Deja Q]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0412/p13s01-usec.html

1 VALUE AS THE NEW VIRTUE

(snip)

You don't have to be a futurist to foresee that in the coming new economy just about everyone in the private sector, from consumers to financiers, will be looking to get the most they can for their dollars. You can sum the situation up in two words: "value rules."

In the old days of two years ago, the thrill was in the extras – the heated steering wheel or the size of the second shower in the master bedroom suite. Now it's in the percentage discount from the previous list price.

(snip)

2 RETURN OF THE TIGHTWAD

The new value rules have been reflected for months in that most sensitive of indicators of consumer attitudes – marketing. The sign of the times is a sign in the mall advertising "65 Percent Off!"

Those placards are going to be up for a while. Many retailers are desperate for cash as much as profit, just to pay their suppliers – and buy the next season's line of goods so they can stay in business. Having experienced those deep discounts since last November, consumers may now expect them as a matter of course, says Stephen Hoch, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He thinks a new logic now pervades the US marketplace.

(snip)

3 EBAY AMERICA

One quality that almost by definition reflects value is the state of being second-hand. And in the economy to come, the sale of used goods may increase as secondary markets surge in importance. This means Goodwill and Value Village will become more and more peoples' idea of places to shop for vintage fashion. People who previously preferred new cars now might buy used.

(snip)

6 THE MOVABLE RÉSUMÉ

Millions of Americans will be rehired in the coming new economy. Some day – though it might take a few years – unemployment will drop back to around 5 percent, the level at which economists generally judge that the US is fully back to work.

(snip)

9 D.I.Y. INVESTING

Another side effect of Wall Street's fall may be an aversion to listening to financial industry advice. Brokers, mutual fund managers, financial personalities on cable news – few of them predicted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would lose half its value in a year. So why should we believe them now?
(snip)

Article has much more, but how does this truly apply to the US economy?

Is there a consistency?

Might the article be ignoring any facets worth mentioning? (e.g. how unbiased is it)

How about the global economy, if things truly will be "flat" like how some claim?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. 10. More work, less pay.

It's a buyer's market for labor at this point, and this point is going to be around for a very long time.

[liberal N proud]

2. I have been living like that for years

I have never bought a brand new car for example.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. unimaginative, at best.

What fuels an economy in which we simply sell our existing shit to one another?

[Deja Q]

5. And now it's being made more cheaply, which also breaks down more quickly...

assuming it wasn't toxic to begin with.

More, they misuse the word "value". We were raised to believe doing right paid off. Right, RUSH and BILL? So, you radio mouthpieces, justify how the new way of doing things (slop and slop alike for cheap) is any better... it'll hurt more in the end and it is not being pro-life either. Toxic drywall and toys and toothbrush speak volumes. But regulations are bad, as you keep saying... then say something that does work...

I think they are missing out on a few points worth mentioning.

[el_bryanto]

4. Do it yourself investing sounds kind of like a new golden age for the scam artist

Bryant

[Deja Q]

6. And puts out to pasture expensive investing firms too...

And some of those firms actually DO know something but were caught in the crossfire too...

[abumbyanyothername]

7. The best new economy would

be the one that provides the most consumption, for the least amount of energy used.

Our current money system was designed for a low energy, highly distributed, agrarian economy. Using money and profit as the basis of a high energy, centralized, industrial or information economy won't work.

But the money interests will keep trying until they finally blow the whole thing up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. TPTB are counting on the global economy, and writing off the USA.

One consistant message coming out of the G-8 meetings was "new global consumerism".
Europe is pretty bad off, Aisa not so much.

Goldman Sachs and its band of merry banks have no intention of ceasing their lucrative scam products,
they want to expand them into other countries. One reason why there is sudden destabilization of So. America.

Same game, different arena.