With the news today that the Federal Government will be bailing out the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - who account for 9 out of 10 mortgages and 50% of the notional amounts of mortgages in the market - you have to wonder, are there any industries within the US economy that are healthy?
Let’s look at some of the pillars of the economy:
1- Finance - as evidenced today - is down and out. The rumored bailout figure is some $200B.
It could be argued that the US Financial machine is now financed and propped up by foreign capital:
- Citigroup sold a 4.9 percent stake to Abu Dhabi’s investment arm
- UBS sold stakes to the Singapore government and an unidentified Middle Eastern investor
- Morgan Stanley sold a 9.9% stake to China Investment Company for $5B
- Merrill Lynch sold a stake to a Singapore fund.
2- Housing is down and out, with the percentage drop off since the peak (30%) being sharper than the drop experienced during the Great Depression (20%, or 24% when adjusted for inflation).
3- The Military machine has profited a few firms but the country’s tab in Iraq alone is nearly $600B. You have to wonder how elastic the military resources really are at this juncture… as evidenced by the US feeble response to Russia’s escapades in Georgia.
4- The Automotive industry - namely Ford and GM - asked Congress for a $50B loan. In fact, the multiplier effect of the automotive industry has always been far more enormous than its direct effects on the economy…
Any way you dice it, the American economy is experiencing shocks from all fronts… at some point, this begs the question, what effects if any will be felt by the high tech and new media industries?
Are there any industries that are really plugging ahead and making up for this steep fall from grace?
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WatchMojo NewsletterOm Malik has a nice overview of Google’s first 10 years, we’ve also seen some interesting writings on what to expect on Google’s next 10 years. Here are some of the more popular posts we’ve penned on Google going back about 18 months… which is half the time we’ve been blogging on HipMojo.com.
AWESOME GOOGLE:
- Is Google Most Dominant Company in Any Industry, Ever?
- How Often Do You Get a Perfect Storm?
- Will Google Become [America’s] Most Valuable Company?
- Google’s Shock and Awe: 40% of US Online Ad Revs in Q1 and Q2
- Will Google be the MSFT-style monopoly of the 21st century?
- Will Google Be the First Company to Boast a $1 Trillion Market Capitalization?
PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS:
- Easy Improvement Suggestions for Wordpress and Google’s Gmail
- Why is Google Weather Not in Google Calendar?
- Gmail Feature I’d like to see
MEDIA VS. TECHNOLOGY:
- Google Content to Let Others Discuss Google’s Content Aspirations
GOOGLE’S CHALLENGES:
- Did Google Overpay for Fox Interactive Media’s Search Business?
- Does Google Have Any People Skills?
- Google’s Share Price, Stock Options, and Employee Morale Under Pressure
- The Innovator’s Dilemma Meets Only the Paranoid Survive
- How Google Can Stop Brain Drain
- Google’s Maturity Morphs into Modesty
- Google’s TAC, Revenues, Headcount Signal Red Flags
- Google Crushes Ball; Two Warning Signs Remain
- Impact of Financial Advertisers on Google’s Report
- Myth: Data Equals Money and Ownership Thereof Equals Value
DIVERSIFYING REVENUE STREAMS:
- Hum, YouTube, Get a Clue; Take Cue from Yahoo!
- Portal Wars: How the Mighty Have Fallen
- Search: Split Up Google or Move On To Wireless Mobile Search
- Google Search: RIP 2007 - Google Portal: Est. 2007
- Google’s Missing Piece of the Puzzle
GOOGLE VS MICROSOFT:
- Google To Boast Larger Market Capitalization than Microsoft in 2010
- Is Google Envy Microsoft’s Colossal Mistake?
- MSFT vs. Google Fight Remains to be Won
- How MSFT Can Still Take Down Google
- Mahatma Ballmer: An eye for an eye and we’ll all be blind
- Will Google Be Worth More than MSFT by 2010?
- Who is Being Evil Here: MSFT or Google?
- Should Microsoft Offer to Buy Google?
HOW GOOGLE PULVERIZED YAHOO:
- Yahoo is a Great Stock - For Me to Poop On
- Why Yahoo! Isn’t Worth Anything To Mgmt and Investors
- Google: Yahoo! Deal is Good For You, Them, and Sure, Us Too
- Why Google Never Really Wanted Yahoo Search Deal
- If Yahoo! Outsources Search to Google, Who Wins?
- Google, Yahoo! and the Folly of the Asian Search Card Argument
GOOGLE VS. APPLE:
- Should Apple and Google Merge?
GOOGLE VS. FACEBOOK:
- Clash of the Titans: Facebook vs. Google
- One Technology Company Has Ever Scaled Advertising: Not Facebook
- How Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Bogeyman Will Own the Web in the Future
- Google’s Cheryl Sandberg Hired as COO of Facebook
- Why Facebook Won’t Be Able to Find Mark Zuckerberg’s Eric Schmidt?
GOOGLE’S ACQUISITIONS:
Monetizing YouTube:
- 13 Ways to Transform YouTube from a Cool Site to a Profitable Business
- What if YouTube Users Prefer UGC and Shun Professional Content?
- How YouTube Can Increase Revenues and Win Over Advertisers - Part 17
- How YouTube Can Increase Revenues
- Funniest Part About YouTube’s Ads?
- YouTube’s 4% Problem is Actually Part of The Solution
- Where is Online Video Advertising Revenue Going?
- Why YouTube Adopted the “sell it your own damn self” Ad Strategy
- YouTube Proves: Success is Random
- Videocracy Event Showcased YouTube’s 3 Risks and Challenges in Monetizing Video
- Putting Google’s AdSense Tie-In with YouTube into Context
- Google to YouTube: Show me the Money
Doubleclick Display Dreams:
- Google’s Display Advertising Dream via Doubleclick
That’s probably about 10% of the posts on Google…
Hope you enjoy these.
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