Skype hired a town crier in colonial garb to read aloud tweets on the street.

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"I am a big crier, so I will probably cry for about an hour, " Porter said.

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And this week, Doncaster's mayor and town crier whose name is Henry Crier(ph), Robert, joined a protest in town.

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Dr Bondeson said Jones's brother persuaded him to go to Australia again and he became the town crier of Perth.

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But now everyone with a Twitter feed is a town crier: Social media usage has surged since the last summer games.

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With the rise of literacy and invention of the printing press, the town crier of yore soon found himself out of a job.

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Despite the fall, Town Crier actually went pretty well.

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Those close to her say she is sensitive, a quick crier, and collegial, sometimes inviting co-workers having a rough day into her office, where she pulls out enormous bags of pretzels and chocolate to snack on.

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But we now live in a time when power means being the platform instead of the source, when the town square is more important than the town crier, when influence is an effect of the media and not the cause.

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And outside of Pete Peterson and his top crier David Walker, George Soros, and a few others, there is not yet the hue and cry, the will, or any pragmatic plan to deal with this economic reality, which threatens to fast become a geopolitical disaster.

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