Why Wall Street's Imploding, and Main Street's Improving

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/conference/new_yorker_festival_2011

James Suroweicki discusses a "dramatic difference" between service industries where principal-agent conflicts are pervasive, and industries focused on manufactured goods. In the former, Surowiecki notes, agents are becoming extremely wealthy; in the latter, consumers are "spending less and getting more."

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JAMES SUROWIECKI: OUT OF CONTROL: PLAYING WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

The New Yorker Festival presents James Surowiecki: Out of Control: Playing with Other People's Money. This program was recorded on October 2, 2011.

James Surowiecki has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2000 and writes the magazine's Financial Page. He is the author of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• main
• wall
• street
• service
• manufacturing
• industry
• industries
• business
• economy
• economic
• recovery
• stock
• market
• services
• efficiency
• productivity
• james
• surowiecki
• new
• yorker
• festival
• foratv
• fora.tv
• fora
• tv

[putittogether]

Fora TV is now officially a joke.

[jag10]

Obviously has no idea what Main Street looks like, outside of Greenwich Connecticut or Aspen Colorado.

[demonstrationclass8]

what a turd-faced whore.

[demonstrationclass8]

no numbers, no substance, just made up trash. fuck this asshole from the new yorker.

[skjachin]

wtf happened to fora yo?, first it was all free, then they started a class system makin people pay for shit, assholes

[Griefscar]

@Griefscar

I'll further comment that his suggestion that customers "have more choices than ever before" is ridiculous on its face. Oligopolies and even monopolies rule over the majority of markets these days, and either explicit 'back door' agreements to control and rule markets to eliminate any real competition, or simple 'follow the leader' mentality that is so common place these days, absolutely destroys what he is postulating on the topic.

[Griefscar]

This man is greatly out of touch with reality. Many of his claims are demonstrably false, and even suggest the speaker is completely deluded. Most products of today carry no where near the value of similar items 20-30 years ago, due to planned obsolescence, inferior build quality, and nearly non-existent warranties.

I agree that ForaTV should be embarrassed to promote a speaker who espouses these absurd views, and supports them with such vacuous arguments.

[PatPowers1995]

Not an impressive outing for fora TV. His arguments were insubstantive, and poorly constructed as well.

[ttowntvcom]

Great, the web of life is being destroyed, billions are in poverty, but you can buy a better toaster.

[SZalewski]

What's with all the whining about this video? Fora isn't here to cater to one side of any argument. Complaining about them posting a video you disagree with is just childish. Even if it is stupid, we should always be learning about what the other side thinks, and what their arguments are that led them to those conclusions. You should be thanking Fora for giving you the opportunity to see what the "other side" thinks.

[F4RTFAC3]

Scrap the title, it makes no sense... What this guy's saying is correct, but it's just common sense. It's not like we need prude with a Phd telling us this.

[PSK11489]

What are people so upset about? It doesn't seem that what he says is wrong, even if it's not particularly substantive. He says that the price of technology has continued to decrease over time. Duh.

Or did they just read the title? That's Fora's random addition - always ignore the title.