take what you want from it...

The winds of change are upon us. Although we Americans are in denial, we must be prepared to relinquish our position as the world's superpower. At least that's what the keynote speaker said at a conference I recently attended in Chicago.

I won't bore you with all of the details of his fast-paced, straight-forward and informative presentation, because frankly, it was too much information to share. I will tell you though that he scared the shit out of everyone in the room when he talked about our prospects of regaining American's prosperity in the next five to 20 years. Let's just say the world is changing at an extraordinary fast pace and because of mistakes made by our leaders, we're now lagging behind with very little chance in catching up with the rest of the developed and developing world. But at least the presenter was kind enough to offer some advice that will allow us to take action on an individual level to ensure our children will prosper, whether in America or some other country on the globe. I definitely took notes, and here are some highlights I'd like to share with you:

1. We MUST ensure our children are taught in home and throughout their education the importance of personal financial responsibility and security. A good FICO score is becoming increasingly important as employers are now starting to include it in their judging criteria in the hiring process. A low score may prevent them from landing a good, well-paying job.
2. In addition to English, our children MUST be fluent in one of the following languages: Mandarin, Arabic, Hindi and Japanese. Currently, 70 percent of the world's purchasing power is in countries where English is not the primary language and this rate is growing. Did you know that Dubai is poised to become the financial capital world in the next few years? The new mantra in New York and London is "Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai or goodbye." In our local newspaper today there was an article about how Nevada lost 10,700 jobs to China between 2001 and 2007. America as a whole lost 2.3 million.
3. We should encourage our children to seek career opportunities in industries that are recession-proof, such as healthcare, security, education and energy. On the flipside, the industries most vulnerable to economic instability are manufacturing, finance, retail, technology, airline and luxury goods (we're seeing this now).
4. Our children MUST be taught the Metric System. It is now the global measurement standard with the U.S. as the only major hold out in making the switch. This is ridiculous!

Here's some other interesting things I learned from the presentation as it relates to the Internets and us bloggers (some of this you may already know):

• Every day 100,000 new blogs are created and 1.3 million posts are made.
• Postings intensify around significant events such as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. This indicates that blogging plays a critical role in debates about the important issues of our time. The impact bloggers have on our cultures and democracies is increasingly dramatic.
• The audience for podcasts in the U.S. will increase to 25 million by the end of this year, and 50 million by 2010.
• By 2010, 70 percent of internet content will be created by individuals as opposed to publishers and brands.
• The Internet is doubling in size every 120 days; more than 80 percent of sites that will exist a year from now, don’t exist today.
  

And finally, as it relates to how much information we must absorb, here's some interesting facts:

• It took approximately 50,000 years for humanity to acquire one unit of knowledge. It took 1,500 years to double that first knowledge base. By the early 1970s mankind was doubling knowledge every 6 years. Human knowledge is expected to be doubling every year by the year 2012.
• In 2006 technical information doubled every two weeks. By 2010 technical information is expected to double every 72 hours.
• By 2015, the power of an off-the-shelf computer will exceed the intelligence of a human being.
• In the year 2025, in a single week we will face the equivalent of all the milestones of the 20th century – world wars, creation of the automobile, sequencing of DNA, rise of the Internet, etc.

The presenter sited many experts when he presented these facts. Some of them seem a little far-fetched, while others seem very likely. Regardless of whether these come true or not, we're going to prepare Z-Dub so he doesn't get left behind in the Brave New World. His ass is going to college for sure!!! Also, I wonder how much an apartment in Dubai cost?