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There’s a lot to be learned from economic bubbles. Have you ever stopped to think about who it is that actually blows the bubble in the first place?

Whenever there’s money to be made the ‘used car salesmen’ show up trying to get their mitts on some of the cash that’s floating around. Since they’re seldom able to add any real value to what’s happening (no real business skills, no tech skills, etc.) they find places to apply what little skill they do have.

The skill I’m talking about is a combination of emotionally manipulative banter and a lack of scruples. It’s the skills that created the stereotype that comes to mind when used car salesmen are mentioned.

Unfortunately, people with that ’skill’ aren’t restricted to peddling cars for a living. They’ll push any wares that are attractive to or needed by a large and ignorant audience. You’ll find them anywhere that you can find a lot of people willing to buy something that they don’t completely understand.
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Is this what conservatives have needed? A few techno-conservatives have banded together to create a new site called ‘The NextRight‘ that they hope will shift the center of gravity on the Internet back toward the political right (h/t NewsBusters.Org). Here’s what they say about what they’re planning:

The Next Right is the place for wired activists to build a new Republican Party and conservative movement. As a community-driven grassroots action website for the right, we’ll feature in-depth political analysis, on-the-ground reports, and strategic discussion and debate.

Sounds cool to me. It sounds like they’re on the right track (pardon the pun), but many questions remain.

Will they be able to provide the tools to make it happen? Will anyone want to use the tools? Will anyone (such as the McCain campaign) try to exploit it for votes? Will real conservatives find a home there or is it just another attempt by RINO’s to sport their fake conservative credentials?
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I’ve been around or in the computer industry since the Altair 8800 appeared in Popular Electronics magazine in Dec. ‘74 and Jan. ‘75. I’ve seen a lot of new technologies splash onto the scene. I’ve seen a lot of them sink and I’ve seen some swim for varying lengths of time.

Some new ideas really are new ideas. Most are just a rehashing of old ideas from other sectors of the industry or other industries altogether (the entertainment industry has provided some ideas along the way).

Most of the micro-computer industry’s ideas were taken from other places, most notably Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). It’s the home of Mac’s graphic user interface (GUI), Ethernet, our current email approach and some others of lesser note.

As new ideas come along they initially face the uphill climb of distinguishing themselves from other ideas, some of which are solid and established, some may have failed in the past and some of which are doomed to fail. Those that are able to establish themselves (speaking metaphorically) have a shot at catching on. Unfortunately, in some cases, the ones that catch on aren’t the best ideas.
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While the growth of The TacomaAngel Network (TAN) is important, what I really want to point to is their efforts to make Tacoma a better environment in which to do business. Tacoma is a tough place to do business for many reasons, most of which I won’t go into in this post.

Tacoma has tried unsuccessfully for years to attract businesses from outside the area. So far the local successes have been local startups. Honestly, I don’t really see that changing very much in the near future. Unfortunately, Tacoma is so tough to do business in, once a business is capable of moving to another city, they often do.

Tacoma’s best bet is to work with people and businesses that started here. TAN is a good example of how that can be done. While venture capital will likely grow businesses to prominence more quickly, there’s generally not a lot of venture capital available in the early stages. Angel investing, while it is a form of venture capital, is much more hands-on and provides a lot more in the way of guidance and advice, along with the usual oversight that any venture capitalist will require.
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As I said in an earlier post, Tacoma does not have a significant customer base of consumers of technology. Two small computer stores and a handful of consultants and software developers seem to meet the demand rather well.

There are some local companies with significant technology needs. Most of those have learned to manage either with their own staff or with outside resources. Many of those resources come from either a small pool that are often dedicated to serving them, or from outside the area.

However, I have seen a significant number of businesses that struggle with their technology needs. I believe that by focusing some resources on (free) education and advice it would be possible to help those businesses meet their technology demands and to open the local market to more computer technology businesses.
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