Last week, I talked about the machines taking over and humans being paid to keep out of business. This week is the other side of that coin.

I’m talking microbusiness. Each business in a community supports that community. No more big box stores but small mom and pop shops, where items at the hardware store can be printed on a 3-D printer. Raw materials will be available globally at the same price big business is now able to purchase items to enable capitalism to work its magic around the globe.

All foodstuffs will be locally sourced from nearby farms and prepared by onsite cooks/chefs, possibly ending the obesity crisis in children. Internet markets could sell or trade commodities, ie oranges in Arizona could be swapped for peaches from Georgia.

Manufacturing, when it happens, will be company owned by the workers, with open sales and competition on the internet. Technology would be introduced at the will and option of the owner/workers, not just managers whose pay is a multiple of the bottom line.

Arts and crafts will be taught and encouraged (the Craftsman bungalows were the inspiration to this way of thinking and a response to mass production). Internet sales will play a key role and keep competition healthy, but with owners and employees working, living, and playing side by side, all would have a vested interest in keeping the company solvent and competitive.

In other words, we’re going back to the early 1900s when communities were reasonably self-sufficient. This would have the bonus effect of limiting the fall out of natural disasters and increase the resiliency of our cities and towns and nation.

Until next time.