economy v2
TRANSCRIPT
Who Am I?
• BSBA in Marketing from the University of Louisville
• Since 2010 worked for mobile software, digital media & advertising, and
web development
• Currently working for Automattic, makers of WordPress.com
• Host trivia nights locally
• These slides available at alexjgustafson.wordpress.com/economy
Why am I here?To share the good news. :)
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you're life is just to live
your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That's a very
limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you
that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own
things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again.”
Steve Jobs
Nothing is Official
Government is a factor in any economy, not its creator (except when it is)
Consumers must demand and purchase (except when they don’t)
Producers must create and supply (or else)
There is always room for innovation, and everyone must accept change
Consumers
• In today’s US economy, two-thirds of our nation’s total economic output
consists of goods and services bought by individuals and households for
personal use.
• Of that spending, about 80% is necessities like housing, utilities, food,
healthcare, and clothing.
• The other end of it? “The Paradox of Thrift”
Producers
If it adds value or helps to keep value moving, it’s a producer:
• Workers and Employees
• Managers
• Investors
• Brokers
• Entrepreneurs
Signals
• Credit (consumer debt) and savings
• The Consumer Price Index
• Porter’s Five Forces helps suppliers (more on that in a second)
• Employment and Productivity
Productivity
• People
• Capital
• Technology
• Organization
• Government Regulation
• Working environment
Porter’s Five Forces
"Elements of Industry Structure" by Denis Fadeev - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elements_of_Industry_Structure.svg#mediaviewer/File:Elements_of_Industry_Structure.svg
Parting Thoughts
• Your consumer behavior impacts your productivity far more than the
signals of consumers as a whole
• Be more than one kind of producer
• Never take any expert’s claim on the economy at face value
Question?
These slides available at alexjgustafson.wordpress.com/economy