Some of my best friends came from a post-college two year stint in the publishing world, before I went to grad school. One friend weathered the storm of publishing company consolidations. At her last job, she worked 80 hours a week, because so many co-workers had been downsized and somebody had to do all that work. She finally quit, because she had no life outside the office. Now, she’s a freelance editor. She works from home at a lower salary than she made 15 years ago. She said that she couldn’t find a full-time job right now, even if she wanted one. Publishing companies are barely holding on. One way that they are saving money is by skipping the editing process all together. Grammatic errors and typos are the product of the new economy.

And so are hastily written and rambling books it seems.

After much urging from friends, I read Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation this weekend or, at least, most of it. I thought I would do a book club on the blog about this book today.

I’m not going to do a full book review, because the book doesn’t lend itself to a proper book review. The book isn’t really one thesis that is explained and expanded on in 300 pages, as much as lots of ideas and predictions taped together. Some predictions are thrown out there without any support. Tangents go on for way too long. That’s not to say that I don’t like many of Cowen’s ideas. I do. This could have been a really, really good book with some guidance of my friend the editor.

Alright, let me see if I can sum things up. Cowen thinks that the economy never recovered after 2008, and probably never will. The cause of these changes isn’t outsourcing, but technology. In the new economy, there will be some winners and more losers, but the losers will make adjustments and figure out how to live on less.

I will keep adding updates to this blog post throughout the day…

UPDATE: Review from the Daily Beast,

“Cowen predicts a situation where 10 percent to 15 percent of Americans are “extremely wealthy” with “fantastically comfortable and stimulating lives.” Most of the rest will see stagnant or falling wages but will benefit from plenty of “cheap fun and also cheap education.” For those wondering, this vanishing middle ground is where the book gets its catch-phrase title.”

UPDATE2: One of most interesting part of Cowen’s book is his discussion about what’s going to happen in the vast majority of people who don’t prosper in the new economy — those that don’t have technical or managerial skills. They are going to learn how to live on much less and settle in parts of the country that have lower standards of living. He points to Mexico and Berlin as places where people know how to live quite happily on little money. He says that others will simply go “off the grid” right in the United States. They will reshape their tastes and learn to live in a post-consumption society. There will be less wasteful spending. The hardest off will be single women with children, because kids are expensive.

I think Cowen’s right here. People are learning on how to live on less. Check out the popularity of the Alaska and survival shows on the Discovery channel. Check out the popularity of distopian novels and movies for young adults.

There is also a return to bartering through Internet websites. As a weekend hobby, I sell old books on the Internet. With my profits, I buy other products online. I sold a set of Dickens books for $70 this weekend and turned the money around for a new purse and a pair of earrings.

UPDATE3: Cowen says that in the future, there will be opportunities to make money by providing services to the uber-rich. Like Nanny Consultants. I also think that there are opportunities in teaching middle class people how to live on less. And make meatballs.