I was asked at the FT Weekend Festival a few weeks ago which industry I most expected to be disrupted next. There are many obvious answers to this finance, energy and the like. But the prime candidate for disruption is the industry we think of as being the biggest disrupter big tech.
For years the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google have had most things their own way. We mostly saw them as the good guys and any concerns we had about their cash piles, data control and filters were less relevant than the joys we were getting from one-click shopping, funny animal videos and the odd Twitter bicker. That's changing. Why? Terrorism and taxes. It has gradually dawned on all of us that there might be no "virtual caliphate" without Twitter and Facebook, that we need big companies to contribute to state coffers in a way that this lot just don't, and that taken as a whole, big tech might just be taking more than it is giving. It isn't using its power to crack down on extremism and it isn't using its wealth to pay much in the way of taxes. That makes the sector ripe for disruption by governments.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
-
Review: Trisara, Phuket – a feast for the senses in ThailandTravel Stay at Trisara resort on Phuket island in Thailand for the top-notch food and spa
-
Expecting an inheritance? Don’t – only a fifth of Boomers plan to part with their cashHigher priorities are travel and spending time with loved ones, with even those on the highest household incomes shunning inheritances
-
How capitalism has been undermined by poor governanceEditor's letter Capitalism’s “ruthless efficiency” has been undermined by poor governance, a lack of competition and central banks’ over-enthusiastic money printing, says Andrew Van Sickle.
-
The biggest change in the last 17 years – the death of the “Greenspan put”Editor's letter Since I joined MoneyWeek 17 years ago, says John Stepek, we’ve seen a global financial crisis, a eurozone sovereign debt crisis , several Chinese growth scares, a global pandemic, and a land war in Europe. But the biggest change is the death of the “Greenspan put”.
-
Things won't just return to normal – that's not how inflation worksEditor's letter You might think that, if inflation is indeed “transitory”, we just need to wait and everything will return to “normal”. But this is a grave misunderstanding of how inflation works, says John Stepek.
-
Car hire and the strangeness of the post-pandemic economyEditor's letter A global shortage of hire cars and unusually high hotel occupancy rates sum up the post-pandemic global economy in a nutshell, says Merryn Somerset Webb, with enhanced demand meeting restricted supply.
-
Everything is getting more expensive – including moneyEditor's letter Investors are about to start feeling rather more pain, says Merryn Somerset Webb – from the rising price of money.
-
We may be heading for recession – and it will be no ordinary recessionEditor's letter Just as the downturn in 2020 was not a typical recession. the next downturn could be very different too, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
What companies should be prioritising this decadeEditor's letter In a world beset by uncertainty, companies should be prioritising slack over efficiency, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Inflation could soon start to hurtEditor's letter Inflation is not going away. And with people's wages not keeping up, things are going to start to hurt, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
