The Price of Tomorrow: Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future - Softcover

Booth, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1999257405 ISBN 13: 9781999257408

Publisher: Stanley Press, 2020

Synopsis

We live in an extraordinary time. Technological advances are happening at a rate faster than our ability to understand them, and in a world that moves faster than we can imagine, we cannot afford to stand still. These advances bring efficiency and abundance--and they are profoundly deflationary.

Our economic systems were built for a pre-technology era when labour and capital were inextricably linked, an era that counted on growth and inflation, an era where we made money from inefficiency. That era is over, but we keep on pretending that those economic systems still work.

The only thing driving growth in the world today is easy credit, which is being created at a pace that is hard to comprehend--and with it, debt that we will never be able to pay back. As we try to artificially drive an economic system built for the past, we are creating more than just economic trouble.

On our current path, our world will become profoundly more polarized and unsafe. We need to build a new framework for our local and global economies, and soon; we need to accept deflation and embrace the abundance it can bring. Otherwise, the same technology that has the power to bring abundance to us and our world will instead destroy it.

In this extraordinary contrarian book, Jeff Booth, a leading mind and CEO in e-commerce and technology for 20 years, details the technological and economic realities shaping our present and our future, and the choices we face as we go forward--a potentially alarming, but deeply hopeful situation.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Booth is a visionary leader who has lived at the forefront of technology change for 20 years. He led BuildDirect, a technology company that aimed to simplify the building industry, for nearly two decades through the dot-com meltdown, the 2008 financial crisis, and many waves of technological disruption. Jeff has been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, Inc.com, The Globe and Mail, BNN, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2015, he was named BC Technology Industry Association's (BCTIA) Person of the Year, and in 2016 Goldman Sachs named him among its 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. He is a Founding Partner of OtioLabs, Co-Founder of addyinvest.com and NocNoc, and serves on the boards of Terramera, SPUD.ca, LlamaZOO, Synthiam and the Richmond Hospital Foundation as well as numerous advisory boards. He has been a Young Presidents Organization member since 2004 and contributes time as a founding Fellow on the Creative Destruction Lab.

Review

"Is this time different? Most economists say "no" - we've adapted to many technological revolutions before. In contrast, Jeff says "yes". And thus begins a journey of ideas as he takes the reader on a tour de force, making his case for why that's so and sharing revelations from his personal relationships with tech industry leaders along the way. To harness the power of technology for good, we need to understand how it is linked to humanity. In a sweeping analysis that draws upon economics, science, innovation, politics, psychology, sociology, and business, Jeff offers an intriguing thesis predicated on the deflationary impact of technological advance coupled with increasingly easy credit. True to his impulse as an entrepreneur - a thinker, but also a doer - he concludes with a call to action. Business leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and youth committed to working towards a brighter future should read this book."

--Ajay Agrawal, Professor at the University of Toronto and Founder of the Creative Destruction Lab

"As someone who understands the exponential rate that technology is advancing, Jeff Booth has a unique ability to connect the dots to something bigger in this must read book. Few books offer a more succinct, provocative, and enlightening view of the world as it is today, and what it could be tomorrow. Your world view will transform instantly."

--Salim Ismail, Founding Executive Director, Singularity University and bestselling author of Exponential Organizations

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanley Press
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1999257405
• ISBN 13: 9781999257408
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 232