Economy/Stock Market: What We Could Learn From Mark Zuckerberg

(Drivebycuriosity) - There is a lot ado about the "new normal". Pessimists like the bond fund manager Bill Gross, who coined this infamous term, claim that we will experience decades of sluggish economic growth and alarmists like Henry Blodget, CEO of "Business Insider", allege that we will have many years of stagnation on the stock market.

But Mark Zuckerberg thinks otherwise. The CEO of Facebook is investing a lot of money in new technology companies. Yesterday he acquired Oculus, a maker of virtual reality headsets, for $2 billion. Last month, Facebook purchased WhatsApp, a supplier of messaging applications, for $19 billion.

These investments are a bet on the future. They demonstrate that Zuckerberg is optimistic and that he believes into the future of the economy, technology and the Internet. I agree. I think that we are in the beginning of a new industrial revolution driven by a rapid technological progress like advances in robotics, 3D-printing, nanotechnology, genetic engineering & Internet.

The world wide web is still in a explosive growth phase. The number of Internet users is rapidly climbing - especially in China and other emerging markets - thanks to devices like smartphones, tablets, e-book-readers and maybe soon by virtual reality headsets. The fast growing number of apps helps people to organize their lives better and is adding to the trend that Internet users are spending more and more time and money in the World Wide Web.

I believe that the dramatic growth of the Internet - and other technologies - is creating a tailwind for the whole economy because it creates new markets, helps companies to find new customers and reduces costs. Another tailwind for the global economy is coming from globalization and the catching-up process in China & Co. Both trends should bolster the growth of the world economy in the coming years.

Thus I think we could learn from Mark Zuckerberg and could see the global economy and the future more optimistic. We also could ignore skeptics like Gross & Blodget and continue investing into the stock market.