Last week I looked at the power of bulk buying that is being unleashed on Web sites such as Mercata and Mobshop. I genuinely like the concept, particularly because I like new models of e-commerce that push the Web's potential. If the aggregated consumer trend takes off like eBay, the wired consumer might come out a winner. Still, though, I was nagged by something. Was it the obsession with getting the lowest price possible? Nah, there is nothing wrong with a bargain. Maybe it was the sight of virtual hordes clamoring for the same DVD player, or perhaps the pressure of "buy now or lose the chance of a lifetime" that made me queasy.
At around the same time (tangent alert), I saw a report on "60 Minutes" (called "CBS Document" in Japan) on the go-go economy of dot-coms in New York's Silicon Alley. The TV report's focus was on the young players' newly acquired wealth and burning ambition. I couldn't help but notice the constant sneer in the reporter's approach. "Shame on you for making so much money so fast, so easily," he seemed to say (not to mention, "How dare you challenge the old media hegemony"). They might as well have titled the report "Return of the yuppies from hell."
This chain of association led me to ponder the "new wealth/tech = greed" equation. Granted, we have a few railroad barons, flimsy tech stocks being inflated into the stratosphere and VC piranhas still biting at anything that wiggles, but who started this, and who wanted this? Just because tech geeks and early adopters are retiring early, does that mean they are now all playing golf, driving gas hogs and eating steak tartare?