Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on July 01
Well, Seth backs Chris against Malcolm.
Or does he really? After playing out the "free" argument, Seth then says:
"People will pay for content if it is so unique they can't get it anywhere else, so fast they benefit from getting it before anyone else, or so related to their tribe that paying for it brings them closer to other people. We'll always be willing to pay for souvenirs of news, as well, things to go on a shelf or badges of honor to share."
That's another way of saying that people will pay for value-added and not commodity-type stuff. OK. I agree. That's always been at the core of capitalism--unique things or services we crave and pay for become over time commodities and cheap (almost free) and are replaced by new stuff, which we are willing to pay lots for.
Seth vs Gladwell on Anderson? Gladwell wins.
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on July 01
General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt gave a speech recently in Detroit in which he described a vision of America's economic future.
Get back to making things, invest in technology, reform the health care system, export stuff, curb the love for outsourcing--and more good ideas.
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on June 30
George Soros, the financial philosopher, supporter of civic culture and crusher of the Bank of England, spoke on Tuesday morning in NYC, warning that Americans are denying the magnitude of their problems.
He said “You can’t expect market participants to resist bubbles which is why you need an outside force to prevent them from going too far. Unlimited innovation can be harmful.”
Soros also believes that we now live in beta--constant change that is unforseen. " My theory is the future is unpredictable so I’m not going to predict it...it’s not the time to have firm conviction.” Hedge funds and Wall Street firms are not investing on fundamentals, he said, making markets more volatile.
So we shouldn't feel so relieved that the bottom has not dropped out of the global economy.
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on June 30
Drop everything and read the Malcolm Gladwell review of Chris Anderson's new book Free.
Gladwell challenges Anderson's key assertions: "Information wants to be free." Free for whom? Free for Google or Amazon who profit by its being free but not for the content generators.
People love free. Do they? The Wall Street Journal charges for access to its web site. The Economist costs a small fortune. People pay a buck per song on iTunes. Free?
Companies can do free and also generate profits? Really? It costs hundreds of millions of dollars for YouTube to distribute free videos and it has had to buy professionally made content to charge advertisers who don't want to advertise around free junk. Gladwell says that Credit Suisse estimates that YouTube will lose half a billion dollars this year.
I love enthusiasm. I am enthusiastic. Wired is one of my favorite magazines and Anderson one of my favorite writers. But being naive about technology and its power to change is a serious problem in a society besotted by high-tech fixes.
Of these three declarations, I can think of only one that turned out to be true.
"Information wants to be free." "Twitter will save Iran." "Rock and Roll will change the world."
And thanks to David Armano on Twitter to point me to Gladwell's review. Love that Twitter.
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on June 28
My scorecard for President Obama in his attempts at innovating America's failing economic, financial and social systems.
1- Redesign the failing financial system -- C.
Obama put the foxes in the hen house, appointing Wall Streeters and their supporters in the economics profession to reform the cult of speculation. They failed and we have band-aids and await another financial crisis in the years ahead.
2- Redesign the auto industry -- B minus.
Obama appointed an investment banker from Wall Street, not a cat nut, innovator or designer to solve a problem that has little to do with finance or numbers. In fact, GM is in trouble because it was run by numbers and not leaders who understood US and global car culture.
3- Redesign the system for curbing CO2 emissions and global warming -- B.
Obama is pushing for a cap-and-trade system that gives away so much to the polluters that it won't have much effect for nearly a decade.
4- Redesign the health system -- ? Who knows?
Obama is waffling on the one thing that is crucial to a better health system- a public option for health care. Without it, there won't be any real competition for the insurance companies who dominate our failing private system. Right now, there is a good chance that a public option won't even be offered.
No guts, no glory. Innovation requires leadership and the willingness to accept casualties in a battle for what is right. FDR did that. A.G. Lafley did that. President Obama, so far, has shown a preference for compromise before battle. He needs to take the heat to be an innovation leader.
