There is no historical or mathematical question that from about the end of World War II until about 1979 all segments of the U.S. economic population saw their incomes grow at about the same rate, more than doubling in real dollars. It was a time of the greatest emergence of a middle class that we’ve ever seen, so far. Recently a new piece of research by the Economic Policy Institute produced a chart that more clearly than anything that I have seen explains a key reason that income went up for everyone in that time period. The chart matches productivity gains and wages. Here it is.

Productivity & Wages 1950-2010

What we see is that from 1950 to about 1970 wage growth perfectly tracked productivity growth. Produce more, get paid more. This relationship began to slip in the early 1970′s and then split dramatically beginning about 1980. Produce more, get paid the same. That became the new reality.

At that point, at first we did not notice the divergence. A shift from one-income to two-income families masked the deteriorating situation for wage earners. Later it was easy credit card debt, then sky rocketing home equity that provided an appearance of affluence when the underlying connection of productivity to wages continued to deteriorate. Then, as I often say, what could not be sustained was not sustained.

Wealth did grow, due to the dramatic increases in productivity. But this increased wealth did not go into increased wages, as had been the case historically.

The challenge I am putting to audiences is simple. In order to have a healthy national economy we have to find ways to reconnect improvements in productivity to increased wages across the board, no matter what the rest of the world is doing. This will not be simple to do. But that is the mission – reconnect wages to productivity growth and get the income of those below the top 10% growing again. Without that, there really can be no long term healthy economy.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.

Ceres and Vesta reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt. Vesta is a very large asteroid resembling a small plant or moon more than we might imagine when we think “asteroid.” Dawn arrived at Vesta back in July 2011, and will continue to orbit Vesta collecting data until August 2012, when the craft will head for Ceres. You can learn much more about the mission at JPL Dawn Mission.

For now, let’s ride aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on a virtual flyover of giant asteroid Vesta. Mission data was used to create the topography you see. Waypoints include: Divialia Fossa; Marcia crater, part of the “snowman” feature; and Aricia Tholus.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.

The home page features a really excellent short film, “Welcome to the Anthropocene.” It is a 3-minute journey through the last 250 years of our history, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the Rio+20 Summit. The film charts the growth of humanity into a global force on an equivalent scale to major geological processes.

The film was commissioned by the Planet Under Pressure conference, London 26-29 March, 2012, a major international conference focusing on solutions.

Really great video – enjoy, learn.

I apologize for the inconvenience of this landing in your inbox. (You can unsubscribe at the bottom the the blog emails, any time.)

Glen Hiemstra

Of course, this raises enormous challenges in preparing cities for the infrastructure needed. Shall we build dense cities? Mostly. But is there room for a suburban style within the future metro area?

This greatest ever population migration to cities is also both cause and effect of something else, the fact that more than ever before cities have become the engines of economic growth and prosperity. Living, lively cities hold the key to our economic future.

A recent McKinsey report highlights the way in which cities are economic drivers, noting that U.S. cities, defined in this case as those with 150,000 in population or more, generate 85 percent of the nation’s GDP. In the next 15 years, estimates Kinsey, the 259 largest U.S. cities will contribute more than 10 percent of global GDP growth. If you lead a city, the question is what do you need to know to position you city for this kind of leadership.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.

Global Aging Population Credit: United Nations 2009

A shift to billions more people over age 65 is dramatic, but it is the numbers for those over age 85 that are the most important story I think. This is because at that age people generally leave their homes and seek alternative housing, have almost certainly stopped driving if they live in a auto-centered country, and both general care and health care needs begin to really increase. There are important social and economic issues created when a quarter of the population is over 65, but these increase dramatically when the cohort reaches 85.

Two recent articles highlight two critical pending issues. The first is that in a nation like the U.S., which is nearly completely dependent on the car for personal transportation, the dilemma of how to balance the desire of elders to stay in their homes and the need to get around when they cannot drive is growing. Florida, which already has 3 million residents over age 65 is confronting the issue now. Will it be expanded transit, or private cabs, or van services provided by institutions like health care facilities that address the need? This is yet to be determined.

A second issue is hunger. The Senior Hunger Report Card, produced by the organization Meals on Wheels Research Foundation, found that hunger in the U.S. for those over age 60 has increased 78% since 2001. Interestingly those most at risk of hunger were those age 60-69, rather than those over age 75, mainly among those earning less than $30,000. Here is the looming challenge. As old-style pensions disappear almost completely for retiring baby boomers, replaced by underfunded, volatile and insecure 401K savings accounts, as home equity returns to earlier levels very slowly, if at all, and as the political system threatens social security at the precise time that taxes ought to be increased not just to stabilize but increase social security, I can see a day coming when legions of elders face real hunger. Something needs to be done to prevent this from happening. The threat is very real.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.

United States 3768
Canada 544
Australia 334
Germany 332
United Kingdom 299
India 292
Spain 155
France 119
Netherlands 103
Singapore 96

World Visitors to Futurist.com April 2012

So it was a thrilling 90-minutes yesterday to watch the online video feed of the coming out news conference of Planetary Resources. Few announcements of new ventures in recent memory have attracted such great attention. This is the company, of course, that intends to mine near earth asteroids for critical materials. There are millions of asteroids, and thousands of them come near earth; at current counts 1500 are as easy to reach as the moon. A single asteroid the size of a large conference room could hold enough platinum to be worth 20-50 billion dollars. Many contain water that can be turned into the most precious of space resources, fuel, and then used to create fueling stations in space, dropping the cost of space travel by orders of magnitude.

Asteroid mining has been a staple of science fiction, both print and film, and now some very serious people with very serious money think the time is right to start the venture. As the news conference was concluding I got a call to interview with ECT News Network. The reporter wanted to know if I think the prospects for asteroid mining are real.

My answer: the prospects are not only real, such an enterprise is inevitable. It is simply a matter of when the timing will be right in terms of matching technical ability, need, and capital availability. As company co-founder Peter Diamandis explained, Planetary Resources has concluded that five forces have converged: exponentially improving technologies, availability of commercial space launch, investors with adequate capital and vision, high need for critical resources, and alignment with NASA policy (as they will be a customer).

So, it looks likely that with the Shuttle program over, but private launch ready and projects like Planetary Resources becoming real enterprises, the next space age (is the second or third space age?) is underway.

Good news for the future and the imperative to become a space faring civilization. Good news too for the Seattle area where I live, on the verge of becoming the hub of this new era in aerospace.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.

Daniel Terdiman of Cnet describes how 3D printing was used in the movie Iron Man II, to produce props and costume parts like those seen below.

This glove, used in 'Iron Man 2,' was made using a 3D printer, and is part of a full-body suit used in some of the film's live-action scenes. (Credit: Objet on Cnet News)

3D printing is coming of age.

Glen Hiemstra is a futurist, author, speaker, consultant, Founder of Futurist.com, and founder and Curator of DoTheFuture.com. To arrange for a speech, workshop or consultation contact Futurist.com.