The world is changing forever.  Well this has been a true statement for as long as history has been recorded.  The pace of this change is much faster now than it has ever been.  The problem is that many people are stuck in their way of thinking.  The learn things one way and most people, at some point stop keeping up with the changes and start to fall behind, way behind.

So how is the world changing right now?  Well we are in the middle of a few major changes.  The key to most of these changes it the spread of technology.  Because the United States was first in most everything we had to go slow, create standards and design from scratch.   Other nations have had the gift of just being able to copy our progress.  Think about advances in computers, medicine or cars.  The high tech developed nations have designed the improvements but everyone; even those in the poorest nations get the benefit.

Now having the same, standardized protocols methods for doing things all over the world, along with an instant, worldwide communication system things REALLY have changed.  Now people from anywhere can communicate instantly, they can chat, they can talk.  And now it is everywhere and so cheap that people with almost nothing can still go to a public computer lab and join the global work force.  With just a small investment an office can be opened anywhere to do most things.  This allows the work to be done in the location where the labor is the cheapest.  This premise is called the Flattening of the World.

When I was in Asia for much of last year I still had an Arizona phone number, I was able to control computers in Arizona just as if I was sitting at the keyboard.  I was able to send email, create web pages, move money from account to account, write checks online, order parts and have them shipped to our production area, as well as sell products to customers.  I could do 90% of what was required to manage a company.  For the other 10% I delegated it, and was available on the phone to help the person out.  This is happening all over the world.

No longer do the super smart people from all over the world want to move to the US or western Europe so that they could be apart of the global high tech work force, they now can do it from home, in their native country.

This change is HUGE, and it will never be reversed.  It will FOREVER deeply impact the way the world works.  Most jobs are now at risk and the jobs will be given to the person who will do the best job for the best price.  If you keep your job the price pressure of the rest of the world will make the wages you are paid go down.  This is great for the people who see it coming and create a system to take advantage of this new shift.  It will be the worst thing for those that don’t keep up, and those that expect things not to change.

People who are in lesser developed nations will also gain, they will be the target of huge amounts of education, and capital.

There will be a new definition of the middle class, the definition will be MUCH lower than what is currently considered the middle class now, maybe a family income of $15,000 per year.  Basically what we see as the middle class in the United States will be much smaller than it currently is.  And millions of people all over the developing world will be moved out of poverty and into their definition of a middle class.

If you want to learn much more about this there is a really smart guy named Thomas L Friedman, he invented the term and latterly wrote the book on this subject.  This book is one of the most important books of our current time, and those that understand it will be much more successful in life.

No matter what happens it is huge and will affect you.  So it if your choice get educated about it and take advantage of the change, or just wait and be sideswiped by it.