Michael Malone wrote a post that caught my eye this morning saying he’s seeing an economic turnaround in Silicon Valley.
Have we hit bottom? It’s too early to say, but it sure is nice to see even a little optimism around.
But to me, the single most important indicator that high tech is coming back is the fact that every day when I stop by Peet’s coffee in Cupertino to get my double large latte, there are at least two – and sometimes three or four – groups of men and women in tight circles hunched over a single laptop making a presentation or typing on spreadsheets. And I see this phenomenon all over Silicon Valley.
Tech and cleantech seem immune from the pessimism elsewhere. Optimism and let’s-create-something remain their primary modes of operation. In my opinion, it will be tech and cleantech that will lead the country out of the financial mess we are in.
Why? Because they are creating things of lasting value. Not garbage financial instruments but real-life new technology and ideas for computers, the Net, and clean energy.
It’s almost a given in the stock market that when everyone is pessimistic, then that’s when the rally begins. (There’s a good reason for that, all the money is on the sidelines, waiting.) I’m not saying we’re there yet, but we could be. And staying optimistic sure beats being gloomy.
In general I think you’re right, but it won’t come without pain. All those coal employees will need to be retrained to do something in the new “cleantech” economy. And then they need jobs…