Homocon

Great news for Apple, but that's not why this bit of news caught my attention. For months, we've been inundated with gloomy economic forecasts, yet if everything's going to hell in a hand-basket, why then are consumers snapping up luxury gadgetry at an unrelenting pace?

Brian Wesbury, chief economist for Claymore Advisors in Lisle, and one of the nation's top 10 economic forecasters, likens America's present economy with that of Industrial Revolutionary Europe. "There is a great deal of pain, but there is more opportunity than ever before," he said, referring to the economy's present transition from factory labor to services and technology. "Between 2001 and 2005, energy spending has gone up by $225 billion. But personal income has risen $1.5 trillion during that same time period."

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, also points out that income per capita is continuing to increase, with a record 9 percent of individual taxpayers reporting earnings of more than $100,000 per year, and the spread of wealth shows no sign of slowing. With the advent of the technological age, the traditional barriers to personal success (land ownership, family ancestry, the cost of industrial machinery) are falling away. Brian Wesbury notes that this is why education and training are so important in today's world -- with the right training and a shaker of imagination, anyone can carve a niche for himself in the coming virtual world due to the continuously decreasing prices and widespread availability of the necessary technological tools.

Of course, in an increasingly democratic spread of opportunity, there's also the danger that someone will just outright copy your best ideas and so run off with your share of the brass ring . . . but hey, it's not like the brass ring is shrinking.

As technology replaces industry, new markets emerge and costs decrease. Even nations that are presently struggling to modernize will benefit from the rapidly accelerating pace of technological development, as machinery becomes less expensive, more reliable and more standardized. Hence, even more opportunities for their citizenry will emerge, and without the pesky baggage of outmoded but hugely bloated industries to replace.

But what does any of this have to do with me? Well, it's all about a hand-held vision of the future (baby!). I want me one of those hot little iPod Video numbers, as it's only a matter of time before full-scale visual content is packaged for rapid downloading. Instead of carrying around my own personal jukebox, I'm looking forward to carrying around a Mega-GB hard-drive stuffed with personal and commercial video content. I mean, what's next on the horizon? It can only be the iReality.

As Tom Peters predicts in his book, Re-Imagine!, the successful businesses of tomorrow are not companies that create products, but companies that create a lifestyle. And today's consumers are already showing themselves not only willing, but downright eager, to shell out some serious cash to purchase membership in the ground-floor of Apple's shiny new world because they see in it something of the future.

Talk about ka-ching!.