Recession Over, Unemployment Still High

BBC: US Federal Reserve cuts 2011 growth forecast: The Fed expects growth of 3-3.6% next year, down from its previous 3.5-4.2% estimate. .... the US economy grew faster than first thought in the third quarter of this year, at an annualised rate of 2.5%. ...... US Federal Reserve said it would buy $600bn (£373bn) of US government debts in order to try to lower long-term interest rates and thereby boost the economic recovery. ...... support for the move on the policy committee was almost unanimous, with only one member voting against. ..... among the positive effects of quantitative easing that they noted was a lower value in the dollar. ..... the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6%.

There is not going to be a double dip recession. The Great Recession could easily have become the second Great Depression, but it didn't, thanks to the stimulus package. The banks are back in shape. Spending is going up. But the unemployment is still at European levels, and that is a big problem. It has to be brought down to something like 6%.

Bottled Water: Liquid Gold

BBC: Bottled water has become liquid gold: In the last 40 years the bottled water industry has gone from a business prospect that few took seriously, to a global industry worth billions of pounds. .... bottled water has become one of the biggest success stories in the modern food and beverage industry..... demand for bottle water has grown exponentially ..... "I think bottled water actually represents a kind of caricature of… the global economy.... "It provides people in the developed world with 20 or 30 varieties of something for which there is no actual variety." ... The Eau campaign was a marketing coup and sales went through the roof from 12 million bottles in 1980 to 152 million by the end of the decade. ...... "When you held a Perrier bottle up, it said something about yourself, it said you were sophisticated, you… understood what was happening in the world. ...... In an age of instant gratification, still water in portable bottles provided what people needed, exactly when they needed it. .... Strong, shatterproof and a highly valued form of polyester, PET is a by-product of the oil industry. ..... "Evian was sold as a beautiful person's drink" ..... Between 1990 and the turn of the century, global sales of Evian doubled from 50 billion to more than 100 billion litres a year. ..... a world where nearly a billion people have no access to clean water at all. ..... what bottled water is actually made of, oil and water; the world's two most precious resources, in one neat package.

If you can get a bottle of water for a buck, and a bottle of soda for a buck fifty, and the water is good for you, and the soda is bad for your health, then the water is a bargain, right? A lot of people don't think so.