So what? There's plenty of information available, but most of it has nothing to do with actually producing anything. I'm in an engineering field, and I google all kinds of topics that come up in my day to day work. Rarely do I find anything published on the internet that actually helps me make engineering decisions. The useful information is in the same journals and reference books that were available forty years ago. These references contain updated information, and there are more of them. However, the task of doing the research and finding the answers hasn't changed significantly. The only thing that the "information superhighway" does is allow the bean counters to think that they can do the same technical work with fewer people.
Sorry but if you live in the USA and are having a hard time making it you either are just ignoring the opportunities around you or just don't want to put forth the effort.
Sorry, but this statement simply isn't true. If you've got "the gift of gab" and are a good salesman, you'll always be able to make a living. If you are good at sucking up to the right people and playing political games, you can do very well. There are jobs for paper-shufflers, what Margaret Thatcher used to call "the chattering class." For more technical people, the situation is not as good as it once was.
If you bother to read carefully, you'll see that I never said that people couldn't make it. Yes, most people who put forth a great effort will do well enough. However, we are getting a lower return on our efforts than our fathers and grandfathers did. The internet may allow you to do different things than what your grandfather did, but the overall return on effort will not necessarily be better.
Bill
Well let us put your theory to the test.
When my grandfather had a grocery store which also sold general goods he basically had a customer base of roughly 10,000 people. His only opportunity to increase that customer base was to open another store. His opportunities were limited because of the effort it would take and investment to open a second store.
Today with the flick of my mouse I have a customer base in my online EBAY store of literally Millions of people with lower overhead than my grandfather could ever hope for.
My packages are picked up at my door and delivered in a matter of days, money is deposited in my bank account faster than I can get the package ready to ship.
I can then take that money and immediately put it in my Ameritade account and invest it in some nice blue chip dividend stocks for a fraction of what my grandfather could have done. (being that he would have had to drive an hour one way just to find a broker deposit a check with him who would have then in turn had to get in contact with his and so on and so on. wasting time and effort) Or Bonds or Mutual funds or whatever else.
Not to mention all of the info on companies and stocks available at your fingertips whereas in my grandfather's day that info was nearly impossible to get in a timely fashion for all but the rich investor class.
That is just two examples.
If I had to venture a guess, I would say you have made the same mistake many college degree holders have made for years. You actually believed the hype that a college degree will make you wealthy. Its probably one of the worst things the education movement ever did.
One needs a degree to be an engineer or Doctor or Lawyer etc. And, that is as it should be. But just because one becomes and engineer or Doctor or Lawyer does not mean everything is gonna be gravy now.
See, the dirty little secret about money that no one really talks about is "a paycheck never made anyone rich"! Instead, what you do with that paycheck is the determining factor in whether you become wealthy or not.
The opportunities to become wealthy in America now are almost limitless. And, it doesn't take a college degree to take advantage of most of those opportunities.
What it takes is a computer, an Internet connection and very little effort.
Waaay more opportunities than my Grandfather or even my Dad ever had.
Sure sure sure, I mean hell all Grandpa had to do was be at his store from 6AM to 6PM and just wait on customers to come in. (Of course if he wasn't there he made no money.) I mean I have to endure the agony of checking my Ebay store after I get my email notice. Sometimes I have to actually work 2 hrs a day getting packages ready and taking them to the post office, and then I only have to take my stuff to the post office if my orders come in after the mailman does his rounds here.
Yeah Grandpa had it a lot easier with his twelve hour days. I mean sometimes I can only watch two DVDs in the morning before I have to go up in front of the building we live in to check my Ebay store on the Internet.
BTW Grandpa hoped to turn his goods in 30 days. I turn mine in 1-7 and make 20% profit in that time period. And that is real profit because I can figure my costs down to the penny before I sell a single thing. I have 10 times the free time my Grandfather did, and have the ability to invest my profits at a speed he could not have achieved. The speed at which I can obtain timely market info wasn't even available to those on the NY stock exchange in my grandfather's time, let alone to the common man in the USA.
Me thinks you are clueless on what exactly the Internet has done for investors and business people. Hell, just the time saved by my wife when she pays our business bills online is astonishing.
Mad Dawgg