Change. It has already happened.

[Mattemma]

I use online checking for most payments,but I recall one time my *virtual* payment to the water company disappeared even though it showed the payment was sent to them.So the next month I get a double bill AND a late payment penalty fee. They refused to wave the fee.The bank paid the bill again,and I went back to mailing them checks.When the check is cashed I know they got the payment. I will miss that.

I have a land line only because we have internet that uses the phone. I was actually thinking about getting rid of the phone and net,and then paying all my bills via check/mail.

 

[Mahonri]

I suppose it depends upon how you look at it. Most of the top facts could be looked at in a positive light. The bottom 19 facts mean that Americans need to get to work and probably work for a lot less if we ever want to work our way back to supremacy again.
China and Russia now trade without the dollar... who will be next?

Land lines and DSL will eventually be replaced in rural areas by satellite based internet services where a phone is put into your computer with a USB.

Everyone could get a "dish" and be connected for school, business, work etc... many colleges tape classes and make them available online. Might they eventually downsize colleges and universities and only premier professors teach nation wide online? The possibilities are endless and it could happen world wide if you have a 'dish'.

I pay most of my bills online and balance my Quicken checkbook via the Internet. My mother would be lost without her checkbook but seriously, most folks under age 60 do the majority of their banking online now right. In 4 years I've only had the bank or a utility make one error and they corrected it.

I have a client/patient who works for one of the central banks. They take in old used money and destroy it and send out crisp new money to banks. He says that there is so very much counterfeit money out there and that the government is turning a blind eye to it... there is just too much of it and they eventually just want to do away with cash completely.

I like cash. It gives me something tangible to handle when I buy something. In fact, I even go to the bank regularly for dollar coins. I get a chuckle out of some folks at restaurants when I give them coins...one gal said, "I've never seen one of these, are these for real? I'm going to have to show my manager this"....

Times have changed. I have more books on my laptop than we had in our home library when I was growing up.
And all books don't have to be in PDF format. I love the books that I read via FolioView /.nfo files.

Since stimulus money came from BOTH parties, why didn't any of it go to put together cell phone factories???? Or computer factories??? Or circuit boards????

And yeah, we could get political but we WON'T.

The fact that China's economy will be 3 times greater than the US economy should not surprise anyone. Did you know that there are more people that speak ENGLISH in China than there are in the United States of America? It's a fact.

I think we have enough 'brains' in this country that we should be able to come up with competitive solutions to keep our people working.

If the economy goes totally bust, thats when you need guns, ammo (for simple protection) and lots of commodities to barter with.

We need less government jobs and more in the private sector. (and that's not political, it's just a fact)

 

[twister]

what an amazing post. lots of things to ponder...things taken for granted...and things that we CAN do something about.

I know it is a small part, but if consumers will be cautious with where they spend their dollars and support American and support 'the little man' ... it can be done. (INDEED it is difficult to buy all American)---gosh you are hard pressed to find one article of clothing that was made here, and i guess that is ditto w. the cell phones.

Folks (and esp. those w. small children) PLEASE consider keeping land lines...those are tied directly to 911. they can find you if , heaven forbid, that you could not tell emergency personnel WHERE you are located.

 

[annie3001]

reading this made me think.... remember "travlers checks"? oh yeah my work gives us them in 50.00 amounts as a small bonus. i cash them in with my bank, however i went to walmart and clearly the girl ringing my merchandise out, had no idear what they were. kinda funny yet said...... i have heard they make traverlers check in debit form now.

 

[teach1rusl]

I've had friends who were very unhappy in thier job situations who wouldn't seek transfers or look for something else because they feared change. I almost didn't marry DH five years ago because I was content with the status quo, and was afraid of all of the changes it would require of me. Change is SO hard for people (moreso the older we get it seems). Some change can bring bad things, some just different things (same crap, different day), but some changes can bring wonderful things. Much depends on perception.

As for our factories...WHY would a factory owner WANT to pay someone $25 an hour to screw a nut onto a bolt when the same job could be done at a fraction of the cost elsewhere? I love the company DH works for. They are paid a very low salary, but get bonuses depending on how well the company does. So when good work produces good sells, workers are rewarded with nice bonuses. When the company struggles, so do the workers, but nobody has been laid off in forever due to this method. It pays to work hard and do good work. And it pays to learn to live within your means, for those lower pay quarters.

 

[welsummerchicks]

All of it isn't going to be bad. Moving away from paper saves trees. Using the internet saves on very costly business travel. The USPS has been inefficient and bloated for years. Some other business - or even multiple businesses that actually compete with each other - will take over what they do if they disappear. Going to service doesn't mean NO manufacturing - it means a very specific kind of manufacturing - specialty, highly engineered, clean factory products.

About half of Americans don't have a computer (or something like that) and can't pay online or get news online, either they will get cheap access, or something will take the place of newspapers - display kiosks, smaller, more compact newspapers, etc. Newspapers need to modernize too. A visual machine that displays news for a nickel or a dime, isn't such a bad idea. They could be all over malls, walmarts, and on the street. Companies could buy slots of time and display ads.

Some day, home televisions will become outmoded too - people will use telephones to get news and personal communication - and then pretty soon the cell phone will be outmoded by something else.

And that in turn by something else. Today people already are viewing email as on the way out. Blogs will disappear. Everything changes all the time.

The internet is too inaccurate of an information source at this point - there will need to be some sort of control and responsibility of what people put on their websites, before it can actually become a really useful source of information. A web site could make its mark by simply making their information sources more transparent.

 

[Robin'sBrood]

TBS ran a Seinfeld marathon yesterday and as I was watching a few episodes I was thinking about how fast the world is changing, especially when it came to technology.

In those Seinfeld shows, which were all made in the mid to late 90s...

No one had a cell phone. (I remember getting my first "bag phone" in 1996. What a sight that would be these days!

) There certainly was no such thing as a Smartphone or a text message.

No one had an MP3 player or Ipod. People actually talked to one another instead of having earbuds crammed in their ears all the time.

No one had a laptop, and only Jerry was shown with a PC, but I never saw him on it. Who had heard of the internet in the mid 90s?

Video stores were big business where people regularly rented VHS tapes.


Sigh.

It makes me kind of sad to see everything changing so fast. My father retired from the Post Office in the early 90s. Back in the day he earned a very good living and had great benefits. It's a shame to know the future of today's PO employees may be in jeopardy.
I hope books, magazines, and newspapers will be able to survive for a while longer, since it wouldn't be very comfortable taking a laptop to the bathroom.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I think all of us are aware that change has happened.... But I don't think the people in government have seen the light yet.

Factories- When are we going to get a clue? If we don't make something out of something than we are not going to make money.... Sales, middle men are great but they still need a product to sell and the product is where the money is. It also is a way for our basic worker to make money with out that base the economics are out of wack.

- Newspaper and TV- need to change with the times and even though I don't have a newspaper subscription I am thinking of getting one from our local small town- why because I have found they aren't on-line. Plus I have children that are stars in that paper and at least I can read about their friends. But you are right news in general is changing. I cringe everytime some "news person" states on so and so's facebook page or their tweets. HELLO if you are actually in the process of NEWS than perhaps that was your tip and get off your duff and actually find out if it is true or not. For example I believe it was Carter's grandson who tweeted that the former president was sick with the flu or not feeling well. Sure use that as a tip but not a source.

As for the TV programing in general- if they have a good show with lots of followers they change the times and the days to see if we all will change our habits to fit. Sorry most of us have a life and if we see it fine but we are not going to hold our breath while they jerk us around. Or they just dangle the canceled sign above the heads of everyone and thus poopy shows come out. I don't want to watch something when it has bad acting or bad writing and I really get turned off with the be right back for the ad when they were just on an ad. So no I don't have cable but I am watching less and less TV as I get older. Plus living out in the country means I don't get the best signal.

Cell phones/land lines. In the country where dropped calls are MOST annoying, land lines are the rescue. I see them going out in the city though so I am sure the rates will be going up.


Free trade has hurt us so much. Politics seem to enter life everyday and the politics and policies we have, have made this entire post. As for the post office they need to get their head out of the sand. Raising the rates every year is NOT the answer as it drive people like me who do use checks to pay bills and likes to give cards and letters through the mail, pause. Plus I can't keep up with what the rate is in a given year- I think we are up to $ .37


Paper money- I think we will always have some physical way of paying. But I do see a lot of people no longer letting you pay with a check. CC- here is my gripe. If you "pay" for something and it rings up wrong and they swipe the card- automatically they take out those dollars from the card but.... Since it rang up wrong and the store then credits you the money that takes 2-3 days to put the money back in. Happened Yesterday to my DH $700 difference and we still don't have it on the CC. I think they will have to fix this before we can go without a paper system. Plus what happens when there is no power?

 

[Dunkopf]

You are absolutely right about everything you listed. Most of the top stuff is not bad. It's just technology marching on. As for the industry goes. Same thing. The genie is out of the bottle. There is no turning back. Eventually the world will be flat.

All you can do is make the best of it. Our country should be focusing on better education of our children. Future jobs in America that pay well will all be based on education or entrepreneurial expertise. The alternative will be low paying service jobs.

 

[ChixDigMe]

(Commentary removed. Stay on topic, please and with the intent of the OP's thread)

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