Embedded video from CNN Video

Embedded video from CNN Video

(I’m making a lot of appearances this week and people keep asking me to give them one pagers on the American mind and mood. Here’s what we pulled together most recently, as a crib sheet and a handout. I’m publishing it here in case you want 900 words on what to expect. [...]

My trends are converging.
Is it just me, or does this year’s holiday season feel like one big media message about deep discounts and Bargain Fridays, and people who aren’t spending? This morning I was in the Westport, Connecticut, shopping district, and there were signs everywhere virtually screaming, “Come in!,” “Cheap prices” and “Buy here.”
I [...]

I originally wrote this more than a year ago, for Psychologies (U.K.). But when I re-read it, it feels more true than ever, and I wanted to share it.
What’s the new New? Things change so fast now, and old certainties are quickly overturned. In response, we’ve all latched on to “X is the new [...]

Rarely has there been a year when so many things went out of style in such a short time: not just investment bankers, gas-guzzling cars, corporate jets, conspicuous consumption and political polarization, but also a whole generation. After strutting and tub-thumping and preening their way across the high ground of politics, media, culture and finance [...]

The more bad news we hear about the cash economy, the more good news comes about the barter economy, people exchanging goods and services instead of cash. It’s a hot topic in the media and a growing business for sites that facilitate trades–Craigslist, Swaptree.com and U-exchange.com cater to consumers and small businesses; IMSbarter.com coordinates full-blown [...]

Here are some of what I shared at our Trends 2009 breakfast at Manhatt’s Hotel Kitano this week:
•“We are living in a time when none of the old rules apply. We want and need change, but we’re also afraid of change—what if things get worse? Angst and hope live side by side today. It is [...]

It’s sobering to think that humans have harnessed electricity, mastered supersonic flight, tamed nuclear energy, enabled instant communication around the world and mapped the human genome, yet we still haven’t mastered money.
We thought we had it nailed, more or less, but then the current economic crisis proved us all wrong. It’s not surprising [...]

In the super-earnest, cash-strapped America of today, you can no longer define yourself by a flashy purse or the number of Louboutin porno pumps in your closet. Ding-dong, the Sex and the City female archetype is melting! That post-feminist woman, the gal who thought drinking Cosmos and buying Blahniks made her an empowered and contributing [...]