A new Market Economy?

Is the Internet, and all the technology which is available there for you? Or, are you there to buy the use of the Internet and pay others for what they want to charge you? This is a fair question. Let me see if I can boil the words down a little. Is the Internet made available to help you, or are you there, so the Internet has someone to sell something to?

Please understand, I don’t have an axe to grind, and I’m not complaining about anything. I’m just asking a question. I ask it because quite a bit like our telephone system which now has us inundated with Robocalls, I cannot believe the spam and the number of items on the Internet which we are being pushed to buy.

I do understand that for something to exist, it has to earn its own way. There is no such thing as a free lunch. I remember a proposal once where energy providers in California wanted to charge utility users a Sun tax. I even remember hearing that the truth about the plastic which now clogs our ocean is not the fact that it cannot be destroyed or recycled, the truth is you can’t make any money in doing it, so no one wants to bother.

Right now, it seems there is a multitude of gadgets on the Internet, and way too many gimmicks to try to sell them to you. It’s hard to do anything enjoyable when you are stopped every five minutes or so to watch ads. I would not mind so much except I can only view the same ads for so long, and then I just have to turn the app off. Actually, too many of the same ad could be a good thing. If the ads are finally forcing people to turn off the game and do something productive, we may have just solved video game addiction.

I told you I’m only asking the question. I would relish reading your ideas on these thoughts. I believe that we should use technology. I also wish for a strong economy. I feel what this means is if the technology is going to take away many of the dangerous, dreary and dirty jobs from humans, it is only right that we get to use technology to play our part in building a new style of the market economy.

If we are going to have a new style of a market economy, then we need to ask some questions. How do we balance the playing field? How do we ensure a fair wage for fair work? And how do we protect the people both large and small?

It seems that today, I have many questions. These are questions I have wondered about for a while. And I would love to have a conversation with others on these thoughts.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society. View all posts by Mike Balof