Changing The World In The Past 85 Years

I can’t give you the name of my source...yet. It would ruin the surprise, if that’s what we want to call it after the blanket is thrown back and the subject is shown. I will, however tell you it’s a magazine that celebrated its 85th anniversary last year or so. My idea is to get people to opine as to what “thing” they think has been most disruptive, or world-changing in the time the magazine has been alive.

I’ll give you some of the things listed according to the editors and writers of the mag, which I will simply call MagX for now.

Some of the things in the business world they list are Air Jordans (Whaaaat?), the invention of the bar code, McDonald’s, outsourcing, Starbucks and Walmart. In the finance category the MagX folks say the 401K is a world-changer. Some say venture capital, junk bonds and fixed-rate mortgages. Things in the media category include Atari, ESPN, Motown, television, and YouTube.

The one thing in the political category I agree with as being both disruptive and world-changing would have to be the Manhattan Project, makers of the first atomic bomb which led to a quicker end to WWII. They also list Al-Qaeda, the AK47, gay marriage, global warming and social security. (I think I would have to argue with the global warming as it’s something that was occurring well before MagX was invented.)

Under the society category they list bottled water, infant formula, the Pill, refrigeration and, of course the advent of the teenage consumer. The technology category is a very close cousin of the fore-mentioned society category. MagX thinks Amazon, Apple, Facebook, DNA sequencing, HTML, microchips, the modem, smart phones and the jet engine should be considered as world-changing. What are your thoughts? Actually the editors of MagX seem to think their most earth shattering, disruptive and world-changing thing is in this category.

In the workplace MagX thinks that billable hours are world-changing (??) They list the cubicle as world-changing because “Control over interruption sustains accomplishment for man is a creature of his environment.” They go on to list PowerPoint, Parkinson’s Law, E-Mail, sexual harassment, telework and workplace safety.

MagX’ers say the GDP is only 85th on their list. Their reasoning is that there are some things that aren’t considered when calculating the importance of the GDP and they are, 1). Happiness because Bhutan began counting gross national happiness in 1972 and the concept has yet to catch on in this country. 2). Housekeeping (unless you hire a housekeeper). 3). Google searches because they’re free. Google advertisers are counted in the GDP. 4). Sustainability because the pollution you cause isn’t subtracted from your output. And finally, 5). Drugs and Prostitution aren’t counted in the US GDP but are in Europe.

That should give you a small idea of the thinking of the editors and writers of MagX and how they came up with their top 85 things.

Let’s take a quick look at Teenage Consumers. (BTW Popular Science first used the word teen-ager in a 1941 issue.)

In 1944, teenage girls were called “bobby-soxers” and went ga-ga over Frank Sinatra. 1959 teens were spending $10 billion annually, not counting things bought for them by grandma. Girls in the middle 60s bought 25 percent of all cosmetics sold in the US. A 1970 survey indicated 1 in 12 teens used pot on a daily basis. The boombox became the “thing” in 1985 and in 1994 teens spent $268 million on Doc Martens. In 2000, Nokia sold more than 160 million of its small cell phones which spiked Nokia’s annual sales to $28 billion.

Credit came in at number 19 and here’s why: Have you ever really thought about those demonic pieces of plastic most of us carry in our wallets or purses? That’s “credit.” They are nothing more than a fast-track bank loan at what the government would call usury interest fees. The last time I looked the national average personal credit card debt stood at about $16,000. Yikes!! Visa and MasterCard, et al., are allowed to charge exorbitant interest rates because their “loans” are unsecured. We all get the “You’ve been pre-approved” credit card applications in the mail. Have you ever sat down and read all the fine print? It’s enough to make one melt all his/her plastic and go back to good old fashioned Federal Reserve Notes. But with the hold the banks have on the consumer that would be impossible. Ever try to get a motel room or rent a car without a credit card?

But, anyhow there’s some food for thought. If you think of something I haven’t mentioned or if you deduce what MagX said was their number one world-changing thing send me a note to PO Box 385, Hinsdale. Or send a note to the Courier. I don’t think I will divulge the name of MagX yet. Let’s see if any of my 17.5 readers respond.

You could call me too. I’m the only “V” in the Hinsdale book! You have a couple weeks to respond.

That’s it for now, folks. Thanks for listening.