1/20

I know this was not the point of the class ,but the first thought I had while the class was answering the quesiton "why are you cool" was that we are becoming less "cool" individually because of the availability of a worldwide labor supply. Before technology allowed a company from Minnesota to reach talent in China, India, or anywhere that has electricity, the company would hire based on the limited skill sets available to it within a limited geographic area. Now, a company can basically hire any skill set they need, regardless of geography. For example, if a company in Minnesota needed someone who spoke Chinese a hundred years ago for some reason, they would probably have a hard time finding someone locally and that person could require a higher wage. Now, the Minnesota company would have billions of people as possible applicants, which means that skill sets become more of a commodity as more people around the world are "the competition."

The second thought was regarding the economic cycle changing as a result of technological innovation. I have heard of a generational phenomenon that the economic cycle works in a series of three generations. (Though I do not remember where I read this and cannot name a source) However, the two ideas greatly coincide. The idea is that generation one comes up with an idea or innovation in either product or process and then grows very quickly in developing the business or economy as a whole. The second generation has grown up with the innovation making it efficient in use or implementation and has been able to learn from their parents how to conduct the business activity effectively. However, the third generation actually decreases productivity because of a "spoiled child" behavior by riding off the previous accomplishments and also finds the innovation old or outdated to their needs. I believe this phenomenon can be seen at a family business level as well as a macroeconomic level. I think that this and the innovation cycle we talked about in class might be very similar ideas.