Your robot: Coming to a home near you

Via the Economist, in what seems like an economic recovery, the seeds of the next recession may be found: "...sooner or later, policymakers will face another downturn. The danger is that, having used up their arsenal, governments and central banks will not have the ammunition to fight the next recession."

What are those seeds?

• Wage growth.
• National debt.
• Ripples of shrinkage of more fragile economies.
• Too much quantitative easing.
• Not as much consumer spending.

The Economist's solutions focus on policy:

• Raise interest rates after solid wage growth and inflation at target levels.
• Invest in infrastructure.
• Reform policies affecting product and labor markets to stimulate growth.

One area that may stimulation consumer spending, which is the cornerstone of economic growth, is the growth of consumer robots. Robots around the house may sound like the Jetsons but may become the cell phone phenomenon. I recall not understanding why I'd want to be leashed to a phone in my pocket, but now I can't live without one. Some are predicting 2015 will be the year it happens.