The Internet is Ruining the Economy

The internet is amazing. So many people are connected and information about everything is available in seconds. Tasks that were previously difficult are now completed in a fraction of the time.

The downside: the internet is ruining the economy.

Here's why:

No music store sells sheet music anymore because you can buy it online and have it shipped to you for less than what it would have cost to buy it in the store.

No one buys CDs anymore because music is all digitized and downloadable from iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.

Brick and mortar businesses are gone because anything you need you can order from Amazon or another online shopping site. There was a cooking supply store in Cambridge, Mass., called Bowl & Board. It closed because every item they sold in the store is available online. This is happening thousands of times over.

Online retailers have lower prices because they can store their items in some gigantic warehouse in the middle of nowhere at a low cost, and sometimes they even offer free shipping, so buying from them is enticing. Actual retail storefronts have to pay (usually) high rent and therefore cannot compete with online retailers.

Businesses are no longer competing with each other — businesses are competing with the rest of the world.

The internet has globalized the economy, which is ruining local businesses everywhere.

Think about it. If you need something and you don't order it online, where do you get it? Home Depot? Target? Or another gigantic retailer? You don't go and buy things from the small local business because those businesses are not there anymore.

The only brick and mortar stores that still work are stores that were established well before the internet came about. (Think: J. Crew, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, etc.) Stores like these still work as brick and mortar storefronts and they have an online store to serve their internet customers.

My advice: if there are any local businesses left where you live, support them. Go out of your way to the local hardware store (if there is one) to get what you could otherwise get at Home Depot. If you have a local bookstore, buy your next book there instead of from Amazon. They don't just want your business; they desperately need your business.

No, this isn't going to change the world. Yes, I think Amazon is awesome. However, when I see a local store failing it makes me wish customers would go back there instead of going online. However, we may be reaching a point where that may never happen.