If you're reading this you're holding the economy down

I read a book by the economist Paul Krugman (a quasi-socialist according to Bill O'Reilly) recently, and he mentioned something that I can't get out of my damned head. He wrote that for all of our new technology (advances in computing, improved telecommunications, blah blah blah), we're not actually seeing increases to productivity anymore. The Microchip Age (or whatever the hell this is) is no longer paying off. One of those who is running his mouth about how amazing the age we live in is Tom Friedman (a fellow Brandeis alum, and, along with Krugman, an op-ed writer for the NY Times). I read two of his books, but The Lexus and the Olive Tree deals exclusively with globalization and the technology that's driving it. To sum up the entire 512 page book in a single sentence: Globalization is neato and the world has fundamentally changed. The book is full of interesting anecdotes that I guess are his evidence. While we can do more now than ever before, Krugman is pointing out that we shouldn't be impressed. At least, from an economic point of view.

Before I read Krugman's book I didn't question the benefit to society from advances in computing technology, but I really only used my terminal at IBT to read books online and check out OverheadinNewYork.com. The amount of time that I spent actually working on it was small. That's because the second I got my work done, I would fuck around and do nothing with the rest of my day. All of that potential benefit to the company was eaten up by my lack of motivation. This isn't true for every company, but I wonder how much productivity IBT would actually lose if they switched back to pencils and calculators. It would save a ton of money in operating expenses even if it's employees would suffer for it.

Krugman also claims that getting new computers in schools is a waste of damned money. Interesting.

There's no point to any of this but its my blog, so you will sit down and LISTEN TO EVERY DAMN WORD I HAVE TO SAY!