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Looming U.S. Retail Implosion: DeGrowth 2014 (December 4, 2013) Overbuilding and overconsumption as models of "growth" have reached exhaustion. I recently addressed the bogus model of "growth" based on adding retail space and the DeGrowth movement, which is based on a sustainable model of doing more with less. The American Model of "Growth": Overbuilding and Poaching November 19, 2013 Have a Merry DeGrowth Christmas--Boycott Black Friday November 20, 2013 Gordon Long invited me to discuss these topics with him, and the result is this 25-minute video of informative slides and our unscripted discussion of the exhaustion of the consumerist/expanding retail space model of growth.
LOOMING US RETAIL IMPLOSION: An Urgent Re-Think Required Various propaganda attempts are being made to air-brush lackluster holiday spending into a happy story of strong "growth," but the over-all picture is of stagnation, not "growth." The propaganda will soon shift to predicting "strong after-Christmas sales" and gift card redemptions in January; if after-Christmas sales are the foundation of "growth" and earnings, the U.S. economy is in real trouble.
Santa, Please Let This Be the Last Christmas in America That "Saves" the U.S. Economy
(December 19, 2012)
The Nearly Free University and The Emerging Economy: The Revolution in Higher Education Reconnecting higher education, livelihoods and the economy With the soaring cost of higher education, has the value a college degree been turned upside down? College tuition and fees are up 1000% since 1980. Half of all recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed, revealing a deep disconnect between higher education and the job market.
It is no surprise everyone is asking: Where is the return on investment? Is the assumption that higher education returns greater prosperity no longer true? And if this is the case, how does this impact you, your children and grandchildren?
The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy clearly describes the underlying dynamics at work - and, more importantly, lays out a new low-cost model for higher education: how digital technology is enabling a revolution in higher education that dramatically lowers costs while expanding the opportunities for students of all ages. The Nearly Free University and the Emerging Economy provides clarity and optimism in a period of the greatest change our educational systems and society have seen, and offers everyone the tools needed to prosper in the Emerging Economy.
Read the Foreword, first section and the Table of Contents.
Things are falling apart--that is obvious. But why are they falling apart? The reasons are complex and global. Our economy and society have structural problems that cannot be solved by adding debt to debt. We are becoming poorer, not just from financial over-reach, but from fundamental forces that are not easy to identify. We will cover the five core reasons why things are falling apart: 
1. Debt and financialization
2. Crony capitalism 3. Diminishing returns 4. Centralization 5. Technological, financial and demographic changes in our economy Complex systems weakened by diminishing returns collapse under their own weight and are replaced by systems that are simpler, faster and affordable. If we cling to the old ways, our system will disintegrate. If we want sustainable prosperity rather than collapse, we must embrace a new model that is Decentralized, Adaptive, Transparent and Accountable (DATA). We are not powerless. Once we accept responsibility, we become powerful.
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