Category: Business

Overcoming Employment Barriers: Literacy, Language, and Professional CDL Written Test Requirements

We need to remove the literacy barrier to one of the top areas of employment in the United States.

I’d like to talk about Universal basic income UBI. There are two key problems with UBI. One is pride and the other is personal finance skills. But before I explain all of this, I want to say upfront that people need and want a living wage.

Universal basic income is a political-economic theory that our society would be better if we simply gave every family one or two grand from the government that they could use in any way they want.

The number one problem with UBI is pride. People want to feel proud of earning their wages and UBI robs people of that pride. According to a book called “Drive,” most people want three things: autonomy and mastery and purpose. UBI might give folks autonomy, but not mastery and purpose.

Work is more than just salary. This ability to be proud as well as earn a living wage, and to feel a part of the community is critical. We need everyone contributing to our society. This is the number one reason why universal basic income is a bad idea.

Another reason why universal basic income is a bad idea is because the vast majority of American citizens do not have enough skill with personal finance. I found this to be particularly true growing up in crushing poverty. I noted with interest reading J.D. Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy that he described the same dysfunctional relationship with the material world that I grew up with. There was always enough money for cigarettes. Maybe for tattoos or cheap jewelry or bad makeup. But I often wondered whether there would be any food for breakfast when I woke up.

There are reasons that we have problems with personal finance. One of the reasons is because we don’t have enough education so that we can understand things like interest rates and saving and credit ratings. One solution, obviously, is to add personal finance to the curriculum starting in elementary school.

Another problem with personal finance in United States is truth in advertising. A lot of major companies advertise only the monthly payment required for an item purchased on credit. But people need to know the total cost of ownership. This should apply to everything purchased on credit, including vehicles, furniture or appliances, as well as student loans.

Because we lack an understanding of personal finance, giving every family $1,000 or $2000 of universal basic income will not necessarily guarantee each family and their children will have food, clothing and housing. If the money isn’t sufficiently managed, issues like food insecurity and homelessness will persist.

Of course, many of these problems are directly related to mental health and substance abuse, which is a form of debilitating mental health in its own right. There are spirals that go up or down. Unemployed people with or without preexisting mental health problems may become depressed. Depression and its cousin anxiety regardless of whether they are caused by life’s struggles or genetic inherited mental illness can inspired self-medication. Self-medication is often a form of substance abuse if people use illegal drugs. But even legal drugs like alcohol can lead to substance abuse when used as a form of self-medication to treat depression or anxiety.

Of course, people with substance abuse and its comorbid cousin mental illness can struggle in gaining and keeping a job. Difficulties in gaining or keeping a job result in financial problems. Financial problems result in depression or anxiety. And so, the spiral goes on.

The better solution is to break down the barriers to employment to help people earn a living wage. Ideally, a wage that include health benefits so they can get help, if necessary, with substance abuse or other health issues. We need to help people get good quality jobs. We need to help companies who desperately need good employees.

Recently, I asked the governor of the state of Maryland to please make the many CDL tests and study materials available in languages other than English. These tests are required for professional driver jobs. There are two dominate career fields where the bulk of Americans work: retail and professional drivers.

Because people who speak English as a second language or having literacy issues in their own language, they struggle to understand the CDL test materials. This not only robs them of a living wage, but also robs are companies and our schools of having enough professional drivers.

The language included in the CDL test, and the basic driving test uses terms we rarely use in conversations. Words like pedestrian aren’t commonly used anywhere else. We should change the content to more simplified English communication so that everyone can understand it better.

21% of adults in the US read below a 5th-grade level.
75% of Americans who get food stamps struggle with literacy.
43% of adults with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty.

There are many reasons as to why people struggle with literacy. They may have dyslexia or other learning related problems. ADHD. We can make educational materials for professional drivers available in an audio format. Reading shouldn’t be a barrier to entry into a job where they need to look outside the windshield and avoid collisions. Except for passing the test, these professionals are not Supreme Court justices. They don’t read for living.

We can and should help folks with literacy challenges gain effective employment and help the companies and schools who need professional drivers.

We need to remove the literacy barrier to one of the top areas of employment in the United States.

The last barrier I would remove is the test fee. I would waive the test fee professional driving exams for anyone who is not working as well as for anyone who qualifies for food stamps. We need to get people off unemployment and into companies that desperately need professional drivers. And if people can pass the test, the $40 entrance fee is not important.

For companies that give free drivers training to potential employees in exchange for a contract that requires a certain time employed, they should get a tax break.

The photo used with this post is a generative AI image. The person doesn’t exist.

Our Future Looks Rosy, Remote, Revolutionary

A decade from now, our lives will be simply more enjoyable, more friendly, more pleasant completely independent of any change or increase in income of material wealth. Do you think I’m overly optimistic?

There have been so many sociological shifts from COVID. Among the most fascinating to me is the reversal of the centuries old rural to urban migration. Prior to COVID, more than 80% of the world’s population lived in metropolitan areas. While the reversal has only just begun, it will be interesting to see the residential preferences of people who can remote work and don’t need to crowd into urban areas.

First, let’s put RTO to bed.  “Return-to-office died in ‘23,” said Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University and work-from-home expert.  Yes, large companies like Meta and Zoom made headlines by ordering workers back to the office. But, Bloom said, just as many other companies were quietly reducing office attendance to cut costs.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/21/remote-work-from-home-trends-2024/71991203007/

In addition to the fact that it’s cheaper for companies not to pay for office space, heating and cooling, Internet and electricity, remote workers report being happier and workers report they are more interested in remote work than in a raise. https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/11/27/are-remote-workers-more-productive-that-s-the-wrong-question/

The demand pull for remote work is going to put increased pressure on companies looking for talent. Where corporations can, they will be pushed to convert positions to remote work eligible over the coming decade. Some 40% of the current jobs can be done from home. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/23/post-poll-remote-work-hybrid-future/ The COVID surge followed by the slower, but continuing trend for remote positions, will free people up to move away from the metropolitan areas. 

Nearly 83 percent of the U.S. population lived in an urban area in 2020, and that number was expected to reach nearly 90 percent by 2050, https://www.statista.com/topics/7313/metropolitan-areas-in-the-us/#:~:text=Nearly%2083%20percent%20of%20the,nearly%2090%20percent%20by%202050.

But wait.

The data showed more residents moved out of the Golden State than into it in 2023, with 58% of California moves being outbound in 2023. California saw its first-ever population decline in 2020 when the state imposed rigid lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing prices are falling in cities like Phoenix, Pittsburg, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, New York City, Austin, Texas and Chicago where people are moving out toward areas with cheaper costs of living. https://www.gobankingrates.com/investing/real-estate/cities-where-home-prices-are-falling-most-this-year/ 

“Connecticut is gaining a huge bonus from the remote work and the pandemic flight from New York City,” says Dowell Myers, a professor and director of the Population Dynamics Research Group at the University of Southern California. 

Some people leaving concentrated areas are moving to traditional retirement states like Arizona and Florida for the year round summer experience. But many are moving to states that aren’t known for their metropolitan centers including North and South Carolina, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma and Idaho.

But the service industry still exists. Even though computer programmers, project managers and accountants can do their jobs from anywhere, people working in retail and service industries still have to go to brick and mortar locations. However, the services will have to follow the migrant herds leaving the cities and going to the outback of Montana. So even those jobs will be exiting the populated centers, albeit slowly. 

How will all these changes impact the social fabric of our country? 

People in cities often ignore each other, but people in the country greet each other. This sociological change may be amplified by the sitting-is-the-new-smoking reality. Remote working office etiquette will change. One possibility is that meetings can be labeled screen visibility required meaning the participants will be best served by sitting at a screen. But more abstract theoretical discussion meetings will be labeled “walk-friendly.”  Since remote workers on discussion meetings can and will walk around their neighborhood, we’ll see a renaissance of the local community. We’ll have an increased ability to recognize our neighbors. 

The homeschooling trend that started with COVID will continue to increase both because parents are in the house remote working so they can provide security, such as calling 911 if there were an emergency, and because a new industry is growing up around the new demand for homeschooling. Online live or webapp courses will allow elementary, middle and high school students to study what they want, when they want and as long as they can show sufficient progress that parents can focus on remote work, kids will get more autonomy, mastery and purpose. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2023/homeschooling-growth-data-by-district/

School will become a series of day camps and activities like Singapore Math classes, Mathnasium and Coding camps, focused on interactive and entertaining activities as well as educational activities because the students have a say in what they are being taught and how and they can vote with their feet.

The dictatorship of being involuntarily committed to a particular school district and classroom based on a zip code will be replaced with choice.  Consumer choice has been a trend in the U.S. starting in the 1920s as documented in Jason Voiovich’s Booze, Babe and the Little Black Dress, but elementary education has so far managed to escape the conversion of choice. Not any more. The rise of homeschooling and unschooling is doing more than private schools or charter schools ever could. 

Backyard vegetable gardens, raising chickens and mason bees have all received a surge as a result of the remote work move. People who are at home and who are migrating to more remote locations with more space have the option of growing their own food. And they are both because it tastes good and because gardening is a great hobby. Homesteading YouTubers are making bank on this new trend with websites like “3 Mississippi” about a family that left San Diego to move to Houston … I mean Houston, MS and 30+ acre farm.

A decade from now, our lives will be simply more enjoyable, more friendly, more pleasant completely independent of any change or increase in income of material wealth.

Do you think I’m overly optimistic?

The future of education will be choice, characterized by an industry focused on live online or webapp courses and homeschooling local activities the way kids do sports activities now. There will be Singapore Math and coding camp and these will be the bulk of self selected courses for a significant number of American kids.

37% of jobs in the USA could be do via telework

I used to commute to work by bike, metro, MARC, slugging, driving, Uber. Now I’m dreaming of a day when I can slough off commuting forever.

I fought the city of College Park vehemently to get a double wide driveway, which they refused, due to a 20 year old law that said no cars parked in front of homes. Drive ways are only allowed beside homes. The number of cars per person has nearly reached 1 to 1 in some areas of the United States.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-617-april-5-2010-changes-vehicles-capita-around-world

My neighborhood is packed so tightly with cars parked in the street that there remains only one lane down the middle. All streets in the Hollywood neighborhood of College Park are effectively one-way both ways.

In our case, we have a tiny little subcompact car I used to get to and from the office daily and a compact SUV we use for shopping or getting our daughter to Patapsco Park or Wheaton Regional Parks, two of our favorite haunts.

Thanks to COVID, I’m wondering if the constant growth of cars per capita might actually reverse itself. In addition to buying more and more cars, we are building more and and more lanes and there’s an extensive metro expansion planned to help move all these bodies into office buildings around the national capital region, but why?

Nearly 40% of the people who are going to work everyday can work from home. That number is almost certainly higher in the DC area. So why not save on the emissions? Why not stop expanding the highways? Why not stop buying so many cars? And running out of places to park them?

If I could be absolutely certain that I would never have to go to my office again, I would likely sell my car. We wouldn’t need to fight with the city about a double wide driveway. We could save on car insurance. And gas. A lot of gas.

Would 37% of American households sell one car? maybe not because many of those households probably have 2 people who can telework, so maybe only 20% of American households would sell their cars.

What would the morning commute look like for those who still have to drive if 20% of the cars disappeared? What would our air quality look like? I’ve been watching my daily report of Good, Good and Good this year. Clean, clear air is NICE!

And what would College Park look like if 20% of the cars didn’t have to be parked in the streets because they no longer existed?

At the beginning of this year, we were talking about which SUV we would buy when replaced the subcompact car. Just 8 months later, I’m thinking of getting rid of it for good. COVID dreaming

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/ability-to-work-from-home.htm

https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/beyond-bls/the-number-of-people-who-can-telework-is-higher-than-was-estimated.htm

PJ Generation

Things that are changing: Rural to Urban Migration
Up to 40% could telework fulltime
More neighborly
More Walking, Fitness, Less Car, Gas & Pollution?
Death of the Office Building
Death of the Dry Cleaners and Business Suits
Increased Productivity, More Energy Focused on Work/Family, Less Driving
Possible Rise in Domestic Violence
Increased Learning Curve for Middle Class Kids
More Home Office, Home Improvement, IOT and More Screen Time
More eCommerce

We had a great opportunity to chat with Dror Shaked of Wix this week and asked him what the future of digital publishing holds. He said his latest public presentation was titled the pajama era. I started thinking what does that really mean across the social spectrum?

Urban to Rural Migration

For a dozen generations or more, the world’s population has been moving from rural to urban. The PJ Generation may reverse that. A new poll shows that nearly 40% of urbanites are considering fleeing the city as the coronavirus pandemic rages on. https://www.millersd.org/news/article/people-are-on-the-move-to-rural-251-415/ In the simple map above lies a stark spatial imbalance: half the people in the world cram into just 1 percent of the Earth’s surface. https://www.businessinsider.com/maps-show-worlds-insane-population-concentration-cities-2016-1

Historically, rural poor move to concentrated areas of population to find better employment. This includes the American farmer and the Chinese factory girls. Even in Egypt, where some 90+ percent of the population lives in that nation’s capital.

One of the many socio-economic elements that the rural to urban migration has had around the world is a shockingly high real estate cost in areas of concentration like Tokyo, Shanghai, London, San Francisco, Vancouver and DC. Obviously, the lure of cheap and spacious housing is attractive, but historically, rural areas with low cost housing had no industrial base, and thus, no substantive income opportunities.

As much as 40% of the workforce could telework fulltime

COVID-19 may yet do what years of advocacy have failed to: Make telework a benefit available to more than a relative handful of U.S. workers. Only 7% of civilian workers in the United States, or roughly 9.8 million of the nation’s approximately 140 million civilian workers, have access to a “flexible workplace” benefit, or telework, according to the 2019 National Compensation Survey (NCS) from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. And those workers who have access to it are largely managers, other white-collar professionals and the highly paid. (“Civilian workers” refers to private industry workers and state and local government workers combined.) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/20/before-the-coronavirus-telework-was-an-optional-benefit-mostly-for-the-affluent-few/

However, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, “The authors find that 37 percent of U.S. jobs can be performed entirely at home—a number that greatly exceeds any recent estimate of how many workers telecommute on an average day. According to the 2018 American Time Use Survey, ‘less than a quarter of all full-time workers work from home on an average day, and even those workers typically spend well less than half of their working hours at home.'” https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/beyond-bls/the-number-of-people-who-can-telework-is-higher-than-was-estimated.htm

We May See More of Our Neighbors

I’m scratching my brain trying to remember which book I read in grad school talked about the elimination of the neighborhood as a result of women joining the work force. It might have been one of those Bowling Alone dystopian view books. I read Turkle’s Alone Together and wasn’t impressed. I was more impressed by Clay Shirky Here Comes Everybody, Cognitive Surplus and Don Tapscott’s Growing Up Digital because they focused on how technology was remaking our social connections based on passions and shared interests. This seemed more compelling to me than just hanging out with whoever happened to be born in a geographically co-located residence.

But the dystopian authors bemoaned the time lost in face to face interactions. This summer and fall, I’ve seen a LOT of my neighbors. We are all walking circles around the same blocks and hanging out with kids and dogs at the same neighborhood parks. I’m learning names of neighbors and kids and dogs. This is the kind of community that was apparently lost when women joined the work force because the book whose name I can’t recall talked about how housewives used to spend time together watching kids, sharing recipes, pantry items, etc.

So work from home, some 40-ish percent who may also be moving to rural areas for cheaper, more spacious housing could change the national landscape, including house prices and social fabric, allowing for more awareness of neighbor’s names and lives.

More Walking, Fitness, Less Car, Gas & Pollution?

For me and from what I hear, many of my coworkers, often walk around the neighborhood while on teleconference discussions. I do it mainly so I can resist the temptation to read that email that just popped up. I find I remain more deeply engaged in telephonic conversations or Google Meets if I’m not sitting at a computer. And like many of my peers, I’ve become an obedient slave to my smart watch that complains if I sit too long, warns me that I haven’t yet walked as many steps as I had yesterday at this time and I need 30 minutes of elevated heart rate, so I should get moving. Walking around the neighborhood while teleworking means I see and wave at more neighbors, their kids and dogs.

The PJ Generation almost certainly means a sharp reduction in gas use and car mileage, cleaner air and less pollution. It means less cafeteria food. It might even mean a reduction in our nation’s growing waist lines. My iWatch often complained at me while I was driving home from the Pentagon that I’d been stationary for too long, but I couldn’t very well get up and walk around while stuck in beltway traffic.

Death of the Office Building

And corporations and local, state and federal governments don’t need huge buildings. We don’t need all those wider highways.

Death of the Dry Cleaners and Business Suits

Obviously, less suits, which means the decline of the dry cleaner and Ann Taylor, the only real women’s professional suit maker. Yesterday, Bloomberg featured an article: Work from Home Crushes Dry Cleaners. If you want to know the state of the return to office, take a look at U.S. dry cleaners. 1 in 6 have closed or gone bankrupt as more people work in their sweatpants instead of freshly pressed dress slacks.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-11-25/work-from-home-crushes-u-s-dry-cleaners-video

Of course, Zuckerberg and Bezos had already changed the nation’s social expectations of the dress code for the smartest guys (and gals) in the room. So, Americans go even more casual that we always were. I think this is great. Since I was a kid in a Catholic Church, I hated the pageantry and wealth displayed in our clothes.

So we down-cost our homes and dress down our clothes. Get out and see our neighbors. What else?

Increased Productivity, More Energy Focused on Work/Family, Less Driving

I think the workplace is going to gain a significant boost in productivity. Some reports have already talked about this. Since people aren’t spending an average of an hour each way in traffic, they have more energy to focus on work and home. There has been some discussion about the lack of work/life balance because work never ends, but I find that something like a split shift works well for our household. I hit the computer as soon as I wake up, sometimes as early at 5:30, when had I been driving to the Pentagon, I would have wasted time, showering, suiting up and driving. I work until my daughter takes a break from her teleschool and we do something together – eat lunch, LEGOs, tennis, read a book. Then back to work until she’s finished with school. Another break until she goes to tae kwon do or pony riding class or when she hits the bath. Then just before bed, I hit the computer again.

The previous work day was 8 hours at the office, 1 hour of lunchbreak that I couldn’t share with my family or neighbors and at least an hour each way driving, sometimes more. Even if work infringes a bit outside of the 8 hours required, I should still get more family time. After all, the total work day used to require 12 hours outside the house.

Possible Rise in Domestic Violence

One possibly negative impact of all the PJ Generation is domestic violence. https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200818/radiology-study-suggests-horrifying-rise-in-domestic-violence-during-pandemic#1

For kids in healthy families, more time with parents could help increase their learning curves. However, some kids, myself included, saw school as an escape from an uncomfortable home life. We’re already seeing an increase in the income gap as a result of COVID. The PJ Generation might see a greater separation between low and upper middle income which is exasperated by triumvirate of income, mental and physical wellness, and substance abuse. It’s a well know and understood element of life for people struggling with debilitating illnesses like depression and PTSD that “self medication” is often a logical extension of the mental misery. Domestic violence is often related to alcohol or other substance consumption. Additionally, mental and physical illnesses can interfere with a person’s income generating capabilities. As a result the 3 elements interact together in a terrible way to bring people and families down.

One possibility is that people who suffer might be able to find gainful online employment and/or education that they would never have been able to engage in due to their illness. But another possibility is this cohort falls further away from the social fabric.

Increased Learning Curve for Middle Class Kids

For my daughter, she loves having all 3 adults in the house with her – grandma, dad and mom. And it allows us to tag team with her insatiable need for attention that is exhausting for any one person. So, for the middle class, I think kids will benefit from the PJ generation.

More Home Office, Home Improvement, IOT and More Screen Time

More time at home means more IOT. More voice interactive speakers, TVs, lights and thermostats. More smart homes and more home offices. We’ve already seen a sharp uptick in home improvement during COVID. Americans spent over $6B more dollars this year than previously on home improvement at Home Depot alone. https://thehill.com/policy/finance/526305-home-depot-sales-surge-as-americans-spend-on-home-improvement-amid-covid-19

We’ll probably see an increase in screen time. “Zoom meetings. Distance learning. Online shopping. The coronavirus pandemic has caused us to spend more hours than ever facing a screen. While that allows us to carry on many of our daily activities safely, it may also bring with it some concerns.” https://www.rivertowns.net/news/education/6749222-Screen-time-increases-with-pandemic-adjustments

More eCommerce

During the first two quarters of 2020, stores like Ulta, Macy’s and Kohl’s experienced dramatic spikes in their ecommerce revenue, rising roughly 200%, 53% and 60% respectively. The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts a 25% rise in ecommerce sales in 2020. https://insights.digitalmediasolutions.com/news/ecommerce-transactions-rising

What if? Mao manufactured the Korean Conflict?

A close reading of Kissinger’s On China includes solid data regarding the Chinese deception of Moscow. The Chinese Army was already marching south on the peninsula when Mao cabled Moscow to tell them the Chinese would not interfere in the war between North and South Korea. Moscow and Beijing both blame the other for having originated the idea of North Korea invading South Korea.

Kissinger documents Chinese history, philosophy and tactics which include playing the barbarians against each other and using chess-like or Goban-like political moves to diminish an enemy’s national funds, national clout and domestic popularity. Kissinger notes clearly that the real winner in the Korean Conflict was China. At the end of WWII, the two most powerful global forces were Washington, DC and Moscow. At the end of the Korean Conflict, both had lost considerable domestic confidence, national financial reserves, human lives and global confidence.

However, Kissinger stops short of blaming the creation of the Korean Conflict on Mao. If Mao was able to manufacture a global event that cost, by some estimates 3 million lives both civilian and military, it was his crowning achievement as the ultimate political manipulator. It’s hard to imagine from a JudeoChristian ethic that someone could care so little for human lives as to use 3 million people as pawns in a political maneuver. However, in the military strategic view of classic Chinese texts, rather than be a horrific violation of ethics on a near genocidal level, it could be viewed as a master stroke of genius.

Terrifying to think of, really.41gbrddtfll-_sx324_bo1204203200_

New Literacy: Eulogy for Gutenberg

I haven’t yet seen any news reports or research or thought leadership books by techies about the impact of smart speakers on the fundamental structure of our social fabric. I think Alexa is a technical revolution as radical as Gutenberg’s press.

In 1436, Johaness Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, created the printing press. Before then, all texts had to be laboriously copied by hand. Corresponding this critical new technology, born in Eisleben, Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther disrupted religion by translating the Bible and removing control from the hands of the clergy. Since that time, the ability to read text on paper has largely determined economic potential and earning capability in the job market.

Right now, in 2018, there remain some 20% of the world’s population who are illiterate. Others born or who later became blind or severely sight impaired have also been limited in their economic potential due to their inability to access information.

Alexa and other technologies like her, Siri and Google Home, but more importantly, the computing power that has made text to speech and speech to text capability possible will make reading letters on paper altogether irrelevant with regard to accessing information.

I read a book by Microsoft MVP Ben Clothier who explained how to integrate Access and Sharepoint nearly 10 years ago. He seemed at that time to be the only person in the world who knew how to do what we wanted to do with our information. I reached out to him on the web and he said he worked for a consulting firm. I reached out to them and contracted him to help our project. I also contracted two American sign language translators because this brilliant expert was severely hearing impaired and had very limited sight. I offered to pick him up from his home on my way to work, because I learned from a tour at the Lighthouse for the Blind that getting to work every day is one of the biggest challenges in a car culture like ours for sight-impaired professionals.

Centuries or even decades ago, Ben would never have been able to access all the knowledge that put him at the top of his specialty. While limited options were available, like braille, few of the worlds books were available in braille. Because of the digital revolution, information is now available to almost anyone and the final wall is coming down with voice user interface.

At the end of this holiday season, some 50% of American homes will have a smart speaker. Amazon’s website likens it to Star Trek ship communication technology. Ease of use has never been more fluid. No manual required. Even my two-year old can activate Alexa, although she has yet to correctly format a request to get a response. Alexa’s ring turns blue, delighting my toddler when she says, “Alexa.” Amazon just announced Alexa is available in Mexico.

Once this technology is available worldwide and once the world is online, Gutenberg will finally be truly just a note in the history books. The world he created of text will no longer determine one individual’s economic potential by serving as the only path to knowledge and information and ultimately professional expertise.

I have long loved books, and I will miss Gutenberg dearly. Still I can see that Alexa joins the Internet as the most powerful flattening forces of my lifetime.