Commerce

USA Today notes that America's student debt loan is set to top one trillion, even as the rest of the economy attempts in vain to deleverage. Even more interesting is the fact that the average loan is double what it was just a decade ago. What does this mean exactly?

What jobs will remain after work is fully automated?

One potential debt crisis that has escaped our attention so far this year is that of the US States. An interesting feature of the American political system is that the political sub-units – the US States – enjoy a greater deal of fiscal freedom than many political sub-units elsewhere in the developed world.

Super-monster-seller-author-blogger-everything guy Seth Godin joins the long list of characters who have given up hope entirely. No, I don't mean that they are huddled up in front of their DVD player, sucking down pint after pint of Ben & Jerry's while watching The Princess Bride on a loop until God eventually kills them out of pity.

If you tell people that The System is totally broken and there are no jobs and everybody is in debt and sorry, nothing can be done, they can either revolt or simply walk away. We know what revolt looks like - Tahrir Square, Occupy Wall Street, Tiananmen Square and such. But walking away looks even more interesting.

originally posted at The Trends and Foresight Blog by Mike Vidikan and Chris Carbone

To some people, this is still just a ketchup bottle. But it struck us as a good example of how businesses can use new technology to engage consumers and differentiate commodity products...after all ketchup is catsup no matter how you spell it.

The Federal Reserve has one last good arrow in its quiver.

It costs nothing. It involves little risk. It will jumpstart the economy.

The Federal Reserve can enact reasonable underwriting standards for its banks. It can also encourage reasonable underwriting standards from Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and restart the secondary market in residential mortgages.

The American political elite are obsessed with jobs and how to make them, whether through direct government investment (stimulus), which is the cornerstone of the Obama Administration's recently released "American Jobs Act," or through indirect government investment (tax cuts to the supply side) which is the Republican response... and also a big part of the Jobs Act.

Twenty years ago, Generation X graduated during what was a comparatively soft recession in the early 1990′s. The so-called Thirteenth Generation was branded by the media as being “cynical, directionless, and apathetic.” Subversive films such as Clerks, Reality Bites, and Slacker did nothing to harm that reputation.

In comparison, the Millennials are making members of Generation X look like career-obsessed workaholics.