The New New Economy

Let's learn about the new economy.  The current new economy results from the discovery that real estate is not as real as we once thought.  This replaces the previous new economy from a decade ago, now known as the old new economy, which was the result of discovering that the Web is just a fad we'll outgrow.  That one supplanted the earlier, or older new economy (“the economy, stupid”), which, in turn, replaced the prior oldest new economy of the early 1980's.

Each of these new economies is marked by a change in the value of something.  Theoretically, it's a change in the value of work (w) performed by you (u).  Whatever work u do will diminish in value (v), and u will have to work twice as hard (2w).  In fact, making ends meet, which is already geometrically impossible, will become even more difficult.  To survive in this new new economy, u will probably have to take evening classes in Web design (d), grow a goatee (g), and say things like “S’up?” (↑?).  Even with all of that, there are no guarantees.

U.S. politics plays a great role in these economic cycles.  Specifically, the status of the economy can vary depending on who's in power: the Republicans, with their “take no prisoners” attitude, or the Democrats, with their “wait ... what?” attitude.  Under a Republican government, wealth is transferred to the rich, who obviously know how to handle it.  Under a Democratic one, it's transferred to the government, which doesn't, but has good intentions.

But that's a topic for another lesson.