Today was the day I called to cancel Tivo. The guy asked me, "How do you plan to record all of your favorite programs now?" like it was an important question. It struck me that so much of what goes on in this world is really unnecessary.
We are well past the point where people work to support life. How many of us have jobs doing something that actually matters? Farmers, some doctors and nurses, I guess that you could make the case that some construction workers are necessary. Not the ones building Walmarts, but the one building water treatment plants.
At this point in our existence we are a civilization of Ipod users. How many people owe their livelihood to this device or something similar? Millions of digital music players have been sold enabling people to listen to more music than ever, yet it has decimated the music industry. Record labels are going out of business and artists are making less from record sales. This forces them to tour more and make their money from touring, which has been a boon for clubs (recent recession not withstanding).
The other trend that I noticed relates more closely to the Tivo problem. The reason I canceled Tivo was that I am also canceling Time-Warner and switching to ATT DSL and Dish Network. This move saves me about $60/month for the first year and $25/month for the second year. After two years, I suspect I will be switching back for similar discounts. How many people are employed to switch me, and people like me, from Time-Warner to ATT and back. We have now been trained to do this kind of thing to provide growth in the economy.
To date, this blog has made 23 cents. How far removed are we from an economy where people spend their days looking at other people's blogs and clicking on ads to generate revenue for the blogger. Seems like might be just as well off if people did nothing.
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