No Free Lunch, Revisited

The Information Age has reached what I like to call the "Spinal Tap Era"

Manufacturing and service industries continue to "right size", which means doing more with less human capital, leading to more and more conversations that go like this:

Boss, "Sally. You have probably heard rumors already, so I want to confirm with you.  Budget cuts have forced us to eliminate one of the positions in your department."
Sally, Gets a very shocked look on her face as she wonders how to tell her husband she's been fired and how to keep food on the table.
Boss, waits a few seconds for dramatic affect (as coached), then, "Oh, no Sally, I am so sorry. Relax, relax. It's not you. Management is very pleased with your great work, and wants to keep you.  It's  (implied slacker) Tom who's position has been eliminated."
Sally, breathes a HUGE sigh of relief and is now ready for the drop...

Boss, "The thing is, we need someone to help pick up the duties of Tom's position, and management thinks you are the right person for the job.  What do you say?"

Sally, feeling immensely relieved, "Why yes, of course, I am the right one for the job. Just say the word and I will get it done. You can count on me!"

Boss, "Thanks Sally. I knew we could count on you. I'll have Mary fill you in on the details, and I know you won't let the team down."

Sally, "Well Thank you for thinking of me Mr Boss. I'll prove you made the right decision."

Now what REALLY just happened here?

Imagine, briefly, if, instead, the conversation went like this:
Boss,"Sally, we are firing Tom to save money, and we need you to do the work we were paying him to do, and we are not going to pay you anymore than we are right now."
Sally, "WTF???  How does that make sense?  I have too much to do right now!"

Conversation 2 is the reality.  Conversation 1 uses emotional manipulation tactics to make Sally ripe to agree to anything, as long as she keeps her job.

The result is, a person with too much to do already, takes on more.

On top of that, the world is now filled with a buh-zillion experts and comedians and news channels and tweets and texts and facebooks.. everything sopping up time that is too short.

Al Gore invented the internet and the internet made everything FREE.  Thus reversing the concept of the Time Value of Money; and giving birth to our concept of the Money Value of Time (tm), or MVT.

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