Photos Are King
You, too, have probably thought a lot about what I’m about to say, about the downturn in the economy. I’ll be including my observations on the impact of the times on our industry (and its future): picture research and picture sales.Here’s some food for thought.
Dismal forecasting. The problem with most economic downturn forecasting is that the writers and broadcasters often make references to the 1930’s Great Depression for their statistics. But let’s look at the facts.
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If you were to read one of the most popular magazines in 1932, Ladies
Home Journal, you'd learn that an automobile cost $500; an average laborer's
wage was $85.00 per month; a new house went for $5, 000; a loaf of bread,
7 cents; first class postage stamp, 3 cents (air mail was 8 cents); and
a gallon of gas, 10 cents.
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The world of finance as everyone knows is based on trust. Even the earliest medieval barter systems were based on trust. Paper checks were based on trust in the last century and electronic bytes today are based on trust.
Trust seems to be built into the human condition and some psychologists tell us that it is instinctual. There I said it, the word, psychology.
When it comes down to it, I suppose everyone would agree that the financial condition of a society, or a nation, or the global community, depends on the venerable psychological phenomenon of confidence.
And “confidence” seems to be the crux of the current malaise in the global economy today. There isn’t any real silver, gold, or diamonds involved – only Internet bytes (0’s and 1’s) that symbolize liquidity. All the gold in Fort Knox represents a tiny fraction of what is known as “available credit.” Credit is priceless.
So it comes down to credit. As the expression goes, the confidence factor has fallen like a stack of cards. In this case, they’re credit cards.
The big question in Washington seems to be, how do we return to the good ol’ days? Should we return to a bartering system, or hard cash backed by a gold standard, or paper checks, or Internet bytes?
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"…In the past century, during the Great Depression, men were riding the rails and driving their automobiles far
and wide to find work. Today- they (and women) use the phone, the fax, email, and the web to publish their resumes.
On a larger scale in this century, the Law of Probability accelerates their chances of finding work much faster.
The same holds true for a potential swift turnaround in the entire economy. . ."
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I refer to Washington because the answer will come from that town, because like it or not, all foreign financial pointers find themselves landing in D.C. Those countries are depending on us, the USA. Not on Europe, not China, not Japan. In the end, the history books will show the failure or success of the global financial crisis will have emanated from decisions in Washington.
IT’S ABOUT STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY
I’m not giving a pep talk here at halftime. I’m talking only about the reality of the business you are in, - stock photography.
And that business is going to succeed in the global economical downturn.
Here’s why.
Want to read more?
http://photosource.com/psn-article/king.html
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