6A- Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

1. Economic Trend: America is Declining in Global Economic Power

I found this trend here https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666 , the article explains a number of reasons which America's economy has shifted in terms of it's global power. It specifically lists job outsourcing, which is where I think an opportunity exists. The customers for this can be both American workers and business owners, as well as international workers and business owners. I think this is a relatively difficult opportunity to exploit, because things are out sourced for a reason, typically due to the cost being much cheaper. However, if we wish to stop the downward trend of America's Global Economic Power, someone needs to find a way to compete with the out sourcing that's doing so.

I personally saw this opportunity because I know that a lot of the conditions for work that is out sourced outside of the US are terrible. It is something I don't support, so I am fully in favor of finding an alternative that would actually be used, and this could be a way to do this that also benefits the American economy.

2. Economic Trend: The BLS Predicts 8.9 Million Jobs Between 2018 & 2028

I found this trend at https://www.thebalance.com/us-economic-outlook-3305669, and it explains how there are supposed to be millions of jobs available by 2028 determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It specifically mentions a lot of the jobs will be created in health care so there is a lot of potential opportunities there. The customers for this are the people who are currently unemployed, the people who's jobs might be being replaced with technology in the future, and even the people who are finally of age to work. I don't really know how easy this opportunity is. Essentially you can create any business or idea and create jobs with it, so that part is easy. You could also look into the BLS data as they breakdown each industry, and how the number of jobs are going to be impacted, and come up with a product or idea based on what the growing industries are. 

I saw this opportunity mostly because I actually was reading an article once about how most of the jobs (I believe it was roughly 95%) that will be available by around 2030 haven't even been invented yet. So although this article mentions a lot of industries such as sales, retail, and production replacing jobs with computers/technology, I think there are still so many more undiscovered opportunities that will be available in terms of jobs. 

3. Regulatory Trend: California Privacy Law

I had actually heard about this law on the news a few days ago and decided to look it up for this assignment, I read this article about it https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/30/california-consumer-privacy-act-what-does-it-do. The California Privacy Act was enacted starting in January 1, 2020, and was created to help protect consumers privacy and data online. It prohibits companies from selling consumers data, and requires them to not only disclose, but to delete data should the consumer ask them too. This affects businesses and consumers. Businesses make millions of dollars off of selling consumers data upwards of 50% of their income made by doing so, and now will be fined if they don't comply with this law. Businesses will need to come up with more creative way to make money, and collect data for those companies that buy them. I think this is a relatively more difficult task. The privacy rights for consumers are probably only going to get stricter for businesses, and this is a kind of regulation that they have never had to deal with before. Coming up with new ways to replace the revenue and data that was generated from this will probably be difficult. I think there is opportunity here to come up with a new and innovative way to market and target consumers.

I have always been interested in this process of selling data and using your data for things like predictive algorithms (determining what ads you would like, or seeing an ad for something you had just researched online) so this law really caught my attention. I am interested to see how businesses will adapt to this change, and how it may affect marketing of products. 

4. Regulatory Trend: Digital Service Tax

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/risk-regulatory/strategic-policy/top-policy-trends/digital-tax.html

I first noticed this trend a few months ago and actually just looked up information about it today, before even looking at this assignment. I noticed it in terms of my Apple Music subscription, it was always charged $4.99 a month for the last two or so years, but since October, it has been $5.55. When I looked at the receipt there were two new fees on there, Florida CST and Local CST. These are two Communications Services Taxes, and there are projections that more digital type taxes are to come. The goals of these taxes (and the future similar taxes) were primarily to keep large communications company's competitive advantages in check. As the taxes increase there are new opportunities for firstly, accountants. They can advise the company in ways that the taxes fall on the burden of the consumer, such as Apple did. It also creates an opportunity for someone to come in with a similar platform, that maybe doesn't face these same regulations, and provides more competition for these large firms for which the taxes were established. There is also an opportunity for the companies, and maybe seeing if there are ways around this tax. This will probably be a more difficult opportunity because the only way to really go about this are to pay the tax yourself or charge the customers. Coming in as a new communications platform is relatively difficult as well, especially when competing with dominating forces in this industry such as Apple or Spotify. 

I saw this opportunity because of what happened with my Apple subscription and the price going up after almost 2 years of the same fee. I also hadn't been notified about this change or anything. I know it's only about 50 cents more, but the article even says that Florida is the second highest tax rate for this specific tax. It just makes me wonder what other tax digital/technological implications are going to be put onto consumers, and whether or not someone can come up with something to manage these.