The Coffee Shop Paradox

Over the last thirty years we've seen a revolution in efficiency as a combination of technology and process has transformed our economy. Between them, lean thinking and technology enabled globalisaton has totally reconfigured supply chains and sourcing strategies.

Here in the UK, as in most Western economies, what could be transferred to lower cost areas of the world has been, hollowing out our high value activities in manufacturing and engineering and replacing them with low value service sector jobs. David Graeber wrote about it eloquently, if uncomfortably in "Bullshit Jobs".

The Froth Economy.

The challenge of course is that bullshit jobs, from coffee shop Baristas to swathes of finance, law , retail and consulting are essentially parasitic - they depend on others to generate value which they can then extract and recycle. These are skilled people, with good qualifications and when things are good, they are very very good, but right now it's like having too many midwives and far too f…