VARBusiness 500 Awards Speaker Sees Economic Silver Lining

The former White House economic advisor and hedge fund manager delivered this news in a breezy discourse at Tuesday night at the VARBusiness 500 Awards ceremony at the Rainbow Room in New York.

While not afraid to poke fun at the track record of past economic predictions, Buchholz identified rising productivity as the key factor in moving the economy forward despite the vast changes and constant buffeting the economy experienced in the last two years.

"The whole structure of the economy has changed," Bucholz said. "The old models are no good anymore. We [solution providers] no longer have a safe, reliable clientele we can depend on."

He called the economy a "scissors economy" that "cuts the middleman out of every transaction." Aware that nearly all solution providers could be described as middlemen, Buchholz urged them to always be able to demonstrate their value-add, saying, "we have an obligation to explain to our customers the value we bring to them...this economy has no room for dilettantes."

Nevertheless, the U.S. economy is strengthening, and the outlook is more positive month by month, Buchholz said, predicting that the markets would turn in a favorable direction by the middle of the summer. The two biggest risks to the recovery, he noted, would be increases in either the price of oil or in interest rates, and he said he expected both would occur next year, potentially causing a hiccup in the recovery, but one that would be nonetheless be overcome.

"You own a ticket [to the new economy] whether you think you bought one or not," Buchholz told the VARBusiness 500 awards attendees.