700,000 Americans abandon their traditional landline phones every month, according to the Economist, and roughly 25% of all Americans are “cell phone only.”

We’ve written in these pages before about how technological and demographic changes are fundamentally altering sleepy old industries like newspapers and college text books.  The revolution in telephony, however, is a much bigger deal involving much larger companies and a lot more money.

Like many revolutions, this one is being led by the young.  The chart below makes a vivid point: younger Americans in their 20s and 30s, who generally tend to be highly mobile (bordering on nomadic) have shunned the traditional home phone en masse, opting to use their mobile phones exclusively. In 2008, more than 40% of the “just out of college” age cohort chose not to bother with a home line, and the number has risen every year.

It’s not hard to understand why.  When you move every 6-months, transferring your home phone service can be a cumbersome drag in an era in which Americans are used to instant service.   It’s also uneconomical for a young single person to pay for both home and mobile service, especially considering that young people spend comparatively little time at home.  (Plus, an iPhone is so much cooler than a home phone, dude.) Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always interesting to get an international perspective on the state of American economic affairs.  Germany’s Der Spiegel published a rather scathing article on the United States’ fiscal management (”Chancellor Merkel Visits the Debt President“), outlining the Obama Administration’s “Five Errors.”   We’ve condensed Spiegel’s criticisms below (though we recommend you read the whole article):

#1.  ”The US amassed much more debt during World War II, it is often said. That, though, is not true. According to conservative forecasts, Obama’s policies could end up being three times as expensive as US expenditures during World War II.” Read the rest of this entry »