Economics/Geekonomics

Frustration Friday: The Thing We Lost

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Yes, I know the Great Recession has caused many, many losses.  If I wasn't a news fanatic I wouldn't be able to avoid the stories anyway – and as it is, I seek them out.

Everyone talks about the loss of money.  X billion dollars vanished. 

Everyone talks about the loss of jobs.  This country has Y percent unemployment.

Everyone talks about the loss of national prominence.  The whole world is going through a self-esteem crisis apparently.

What no one is talking about is that among all this there's been a huge loss of something else, a resource that can be made and destroyed – and once destroyed is hard to remake.

That resource is TRUST.  The pundits and economists don't talk about this nearly enough.

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The Two Sides Of The Geekonomy

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Those of us working in – or hoping to work in – the Geekonomy are always trying to understand it a bit better.  It's a bit of an obsession of mine, because I feel like there's "something" out there for us progeeks and profans to grasp, but I haven't fully grasped it yet.  I can get some idea of the form of the Geekonomy, but its still fuzzy.

I've said for awhile that the Geekonomy, that place where geekiness, fandom, and industry comes together, is information-driven.  Its computers and video games, anime and novels, and at least a bit self-referential as everything ties into each other.  The fangirl that writes fanfic also uses Facebook and debates publishing on Lulu.com.  The dedicated otaku uses Photoshop to do art, makes web pages, and buys manga at the bookstore.

Of course, this is leading up to a recent insight of mine.  Namely, that the Geekonomy has two sides that are intimately intertwined.

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Frustration Friday: There’s Not Going To Be Normal

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I'm a news junkie, which is about as obvious as saying that Yao Ming is a tad tall.  One of the flaws of being a news junkie is you are exposed to large quantities of Stupid, especially if you read pundits or analysis.  Even the wisest people wiff it occasionally, which may occasionally help you forget some paid analysts are complete morons.

One of the moronic ideas kicked around by the wise and the stupid is the talk of what happens when the economy of America – and indeed the world – gets "back to normal."

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