There are two incredibly strong forces that are running up against each other: the deflationary nature of science & technology (better, faster, cheaper) and the inflationary nature of the global banking system.
If we examine the things that have benefited from the deflationary nature of science & technology -- the internet, phones/tablets/PCs, everyone is incredibly wealthy today. The typical high school student now has access as much or more knowledge and computational power than the most powerful people 20 or 30 years ago. The power is so immense yet at the same time imperceptible to most. An iPhone? A place to play Candy Crush.
The few who figure it out immediately drop everything they are doing and start a technology company (I did.)
However, when we examine areas that are greatly influenced by inflationary pressures things look really bad. Healthcare basically means if you have a family you need to spend $1000 a month on something that you will only use in a dire emergency because you'll pay thousands of dollars out of your pocket before it kicks in. Education, I don't even have to mention.
Real estate is the other big area. Real estate is a finite resource. Even if there is unlimited resources and energy there is not unlimited land. The areas that are most influenced by the global banking system appear to have the most extreme divergence in real estate costs -- London, NYC, SF/Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, etc. The upper end of the prices in there areas are in complete fantasy land to everyone else.
Technology start ups sit right in the middle of all of this. Incredible deflationary gains thanks to science and technology, insane pricing thanks to a global banking system flush with cash -- for now at a rate that has been subsidizing borrowers at the cost of savers.
The good news is that if you run a start up, even if there is a global slowdown economically, science & technology deflation will carry you along. Just don't borrow a lot of money.
If we examine the things that have benefited from the deflationary nature of science & technology -- the internet, phones/tablets/PCs, everyone is incredibly wealthy today. The typical high school student now has access as much or more knowledge and computational power than the most powerful people 20 or 30 years ago. The power is so immense yet at the same time imperceptible to most. An iPhone? A place to play Candy Crush.
The few who figure it out immediately drop everything they are doing and start a technology company (I did.)
However, when we examine areas that are greatly influenced by inflationary pressures things look really bad. Healthcare basically means if you have a family you need to spend $1000 a month on something that you will only use in a dire emergency because you'll pay thousands of dollars out of your pocket before it kicks in. Education, I don't even have to mention.
Real estate is the other big area. Real estate is a finite resource. Even if there is unlimited resources and energy there is not unlimited land. The areas that are most influenced by the global banking system appear to have the most extreme divergence in real estate costs -- London, NYC, SF/Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, etc. The upper end of the prices in there areas are in complete fantasy land to everyone else.
Technology start ups sit right in the middle of all of this. Incredible deflationary gains thanks to science and technology, insane pricing thanks to a global banking system flush with cash -- for now at a rate that has been subsidizing borrowers at the cost of savers.
The good news is that if you run a start up, even if there is a global slowdown economically, science & technology deflation will carry you along. Just don't borrow a lot of money.