The economy is at an inflection point. The rise in employment and more people entering the workplace is a show of confidence in the economy. The stock market should also continue to rise with consumer confidence. It will be interesting to see if the economy can sustain this current modest level of growth given the potential headwinds that naturally occur with an increase in economic activity – increases in interest rates, gas prices and the cost of labor should drive prices up.
Many o f the new jobs being created are completely different than those that the prior economy required. These new jobs require new set of skills. The new American economy is beginning to show itself. The economy is entering a new phase. This week on our show, I interview David Pearce Snyder a consulting futurist who began his career forecasting for the U.S. Census Bureau and he later worked with the Rand Corporation.
We will discuss long-term trends and the insights they’ll hold for the future of the U.S. economy. We will talk about concepts that include the fact that major innovations in the marketplace cause structural unemployment for a while. However, as the new innovations – like the internet- take hold new employment is generated by the innovation. These new jobs will take up the slack of the old jobs that were lost.
Florida and the rest of the United States need to increase spending on education and innovation at a time when most States are cutting back. They need to prepare the ground for new innovations that will start momentum for growth at large and small businesses alike. These innovations will generate the new jobs the coming recovery will require.
Who would have thought that just a couple of years ago that major corporations would have entire departments focused on social media? New green technologies will continue to generate new careers that we can only imagine at this time. Technological improvements will create new employment centers. We are seeing these new employment centers spring up around the new energy discoveries in places like Williston North Dakota thanks to the discovery of new technologies to access the energy.
The recovery in the housing sector still will determine the full extent of the overall economic recovery. So much of Middle America’s wealth is tied up in their home only the restructuring of the American family’s capital account can truly bring about economic recovery in the United States. And the United States Government needs to get its capital accounts in order as well to ensure continuing economic growth and prosperity.
The seeds for America’s future economy will be sown during the coming months. We need to focus our efforts on balancing our books as a country and as individuals, we need to improve accessibility to and the quality of education and we need to make sure that inflation in the future does not erode the remaining capital that Middle America and the baby boomers are depending on to help them meet the needs of their families in the future.
