Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst at Forrester Research in Social Computing charts the start of the US-based social media layoffs. By no coincidence it’s beginning in the UK too, so I hear. Then again, anecdotally speaking, it’s not all doom and gloom either. My tech elder brother Andrew is flying down to London soon to raise venture capital for a new online tutoring venture for example.
Allister Heath in City AM warns PM Gordon Brown not to use the nationalisation of the banks to over-inflate the housing market once again: “The government is on much weaker ground with its attempt to revive lending to consumers and homeowners by fiat.” But he’s missing the obvious (oops!). The Chancellor is over-joyed at the ability to ‘persuade’ the nationalised banks to lend again.
He sees it as being dealt a winning card; it will allow him both to stave off recession by re-inflating the housing market and consumer consumption, and so win the votes that matter for the next General Election — a stroke of incredible luck & genius to boot? Only time will tell.