The “World of Tomorrow,” a theme that has supplied reams of fiction and sparked creativity in the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, has shifted in the public eye from something wondrous to something problematic. Individuals are experiencing conditions they did not anticipate facing in their once optimistic view of the future. Five years into a recovery, most economic metrics that apply to individuals have not turned very positive. Three main changes are behind shifts in the American economy: Flooding the market with job seekers, which is partially the result of globalization; expanding the automation of jobs across wider and wider swaths of the economy and at higher and higher levels of sophistication; and breaking apart “jobs” to make “tasks,” and devolving “careers” down to “projects.” These and other causes have left salaries stagnating, despite attractive corporate profits and the many years of official recovery. Individuals have responded by creating a new Hierarchy of Value, by altering their focus from a Better Living to a Better Life and by redefining what it means to be an adult. These are all part of the causes and consequences of a New Economy, which we discuss in greater detail in Part II of this Briefing.