(As if all my posts aren’t rambles. Hee hee.)
The election is over. The polemic and political bullshit should be put to rest for a while and the economy is moving in the right direction. The craft economy has been growing the last couple of years during these very harsh financial times, affected a cultural change. What is the craft economy? It’s a mindset where people take pride cooking for their family rather than paying others to do so. It’s fixing gutters rather than hiring contractors. Knitting sweaters just to see what hand-made looks like. Putting less by the curb and refurbishing the old stuff. Some of this is influenced by the sustainability movement. As the country gets older demographically, roots become more important. We all get waste is bad.
As for the business economy, companies have cut to the bone; felt the bone, tendons and muscle. Sure companies have made some retrenchment mistakes, e.g., replace marketing blocking and tackling with low cost social marketing, free interns and search engine advertising. But that’s settling down. The cottage industries that have grown up around social and digital are shaking out and will continue to be important (for other reasons) yet will shrink and make corporate marketing performance stronger.
With 35+% of the country impacted by Sandy (Can we please rename this piece-of-shit storm something other than “Superstorm Sandy?” What are we 4th graders?), the masses have learned how blessed we really are for all the creature comforts we have—for what it means to be a neighbor. When George, the cranky old German guy next door, turns into a huffing and puffing 84 year old in need, we are seeing life more selflessly.
Lastly, the country’s new-found focus on education, especially that of the K12 variety an exciting new technology overlay, will inch us away from poverty and toward a flatter country. These four things are a good perfect storm.
These are the words of the typist. Now go in PEACE!