LET ME BEGIN by saying that I’ve written many articles on New Wave, most of which have dealt with the exciting possibilities of making permanent changes for the better in both the music and the music industry. This is not one of those. Instead, as we near the end of a summer so boring even the punks couldn’t stand it. I’d like to offer some observations on the economic factors that currently determine where New Wave is going, based on plain factors rather than the usual rhetoric.