“what were they thinking”?

We seem to be hearing the words earning surprise way to often, in fact so much so that this blogger is often left wondering “what were they thinking”? But last nights earning announcement truly was a surprise to virtually all market observers. After being written off and maligned the previous day Google knocks the cover off the ball with home run numbers and with a little help from Citi and Caterpillar are giving the market a huge boost this morning. Again I have always been a bit skeptical of the recession is going to slow down internet traffic. I hold a counter theory which is that inflation and economic slow down coupled with higher energy prices feed the very strengths of the internet and give the net an even greater competitive advantage. The internet is low cost interactive entertainment, it creates customized solutions of a mass produced scale and it clearly saves on energy costs because you don’t even have to leave your house, finally business gain and enormous amount of information about their customers or lack of customers.

While the shorts stampede like elephants running around a bath tub the big picture suggests that there is even more evidence that the US economy is moving form the global buyer of last resort to the global producer of first resort. I know the current political landscape seems more suited for 1977 than today but that trend and its coming failure should only be seen as a bump in the road. The unintended consequence may even speed the process of the US moving from net consumer to net producer. The embracing of information and communication technologies continues to reshape the US business environment even though the media and government seem totally unaware. The new model has man merged with and using technology to find business opportunities in a more fulfilling self employed business structure. We are becoming the land of independent business technology contractors and wealth is know being created from a kitchen table with a lap top and a website.