The Future Is Already Past

Ah, to be a boy again. The New Economy has already passed out of fashion, says the Financial Times. But now, the one piece of real evidence that there actually was an Economy that was New—increased productivity—has vanished like the gambler's lucky streak: Reasonably convincing number-crunching shows productivity growth back down to 1973-1995 levels. "If productivity continues to grow at this pace, the new economy will prove to be just a blip in a longer period of slow growth," says the FT. The discouraging numbers could be just a bump on the way to a brighter future, and I remember the nineties too fondly to stop evangelizing for the Golden Age. But I think I'm sounding more and more like Exidor, even to myself.