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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (1735)	5/26/2000 3:52:00 AM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12231

*The Fed and The Web* <Philadelphia, May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Edward Boehne, who retires next week as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, will leave his post more perplexed by the U.S. economy than when he became a central banker in 1981. The Internet and other recent innovations are as significant as the introduction of the automobile or the television, yet ``we have only the vaguest notion'' of what the long-term implications are for the economy and Fed interest-rate policy, Boehne said in an interview. Boehne, 60, said the economy's non-inflationary speed limit could be as high as 3.5 percent or 4 percent a year because gains in worker productivity are helping keep consumer prices in check. Boehne said that while ``we do not know what the productivity potential is,'' he expects the positive effects to continue. ``We're resolving the uncertainties on the side of optimism,'' he said. Still, with wages rising and other signs that inflation may be on the rise after three years of expansion at a 4 percent or better pace, the Fed can't be overly enthusiastic, he said. ``We still know there are limits,'' Boehne said... > quote.bloomberg.com They really don't get it. It is only in the last couple of years that they figured out that the amazing Web and silicon/fibre/6bn people/ New Paradigm effect is moving productivity so fast that although they print money flat out, inflation doesn't get a grip. Even with crude oil up x 3 inflation has barely budged though SUVs are feeling the pinch. To compare The Web with the television or cars and crusty old industrial revolution electromechanical devices which replaced our muscles is really not coming close to understanding what is going on in The New Paradigm. The Web is like an infinitely huge brain adjunct for hundreds of millions of people already. We have just seen the glimmerings of the start of the process. It is a bit more significant than the television, the New Beetle and even the latest dimpled golf ball. Add up everything since people got control of fire and then multiply that by some big number. That's what's going on and going down bros! It does NOT matter than photons couple with matter! We ain't seen nuttin' yet... Mqurice PS: Anyway, there is no longer such a thing as 'the US economy' as they quaintly put it. Okay, you can add up the goods and services, GNP, GDP etc, just as I can add up my little niche of the world economy, but there is a lot more going on than shows up there. Cyberspace is where the value is. How many hours a day do you spend in cyberspace? That is a small indication of the value of cyberspace. Time spent is NOT an accurate measure of the importance. The abstract impacts will be far far more significant than productivity improvements and 'hours spent in the Web'.