“Start-ups, apps and algorithms are slicing through jobs and traditional businesses. Everything is being disrupted.”
Introduction
Just before Christmas I purchased an iPad, and was not surprised to see that all the office-style application software – Numbers, Pages, Keynote – is now included for free.
At about the same time I was in the Apple store, Microsoft announced that customers can now install its own Office suite (Excel, Word, Powerpoint) for free on tablet devices.
Microsoft’s decision to give away one of its core products is just a small blue dot in a universe of deflation, and illustrates that in this brave new world of disruption maintaining price above marginal cost is increasingly difficult. (The hypothesis that accounting software vendors can succeed where Microsoft has failed is not supported by the evidence, not the least of which is the continued growth of the Mclowd Community).
Capitalism (in its current form) has been on life support for more than seven years. 2015 marks the beginning of a dangerous collision between debt and deflation, and the point at which governments and monetary authorities begin to realise that no amount of quantitative easing, zero interest rates and debt-fuelled fiscal stimulus can prevent our collective journey towards zero marginal cost.
Over time they will come to understand that what is actually required is a fundamentally different approach to managing economic activity. One that builds upon – rather than resists – the forces underlying the Third Industrial Revolution.
Accounting Platform Update
As the iron grip of deflation takes hold asset values and gross yields must inevitably decline.
In that context – as it did during the GFC – the focus will shift to net returns and the cost of investment administration.
SMSF trustees and other asset owners will be looking for the most cost-effective solution, and Mclowd will be there with an online Community built from the ground up to maximise their net returns.
Mclowd starts 2015 with more momentum and resources than was the case 12 months ago, and will spend the coming months focused on responding to the hundreds of posts in the Community Forum and working towards longer terms goals such as ATO integration.
As part of this process we will be holding a User Group session in Sydney on Wednesday January 21st. Places are limited, so click here to register.
Postscript
At the end of last year the Federal Government admitted to an ongoing deterioration in Australia’s public finances, and we are now putting nearly $1 billion per week on the national credit card.
The Government’s decision to increase the deficit is based on the assumption that at some point in the future tax receipts will recover sufficiently to service and repay the hundreds of billions of $$ in debt that is being accumulated.
The reality is that the budget will not recover because the Government’s budget is in terminal decline, and the reason the budget is in terminal decline is that the Australian Federal Government – like all of us – is on a journey towards zero marginal cost (which will impact revenues far earlier than it does expenditure).
The sooner we accept the harsh reality of deflation the sooner we can begin the journey from an economy based on self interest to a society based on collaboration.
Kind Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd