The high cost the cheap is my quick way of saying that there is a social economic and moral price to be paid for americas addiction to cheap stuff. Everything from clothes to food to gas the cost is paid mainly by the men and women who sell cheap stuff. But struggle to pay their bills. Meanwhile, increasingly cheap technology is creating a shared economy that offers value and convenience to consumers but it has potentially troubling consequences for limo drivers hotel owners and others. Today i am going look at how some companies and cities are responding to the high cost of cheap. The then well look at some of the painful side effects of a world thats a wash in cheap oil and finally ill examine how technology has made talk so cheap and powerful but social media has become a weapon of public shaming that can cost someone their job. But first not everyone is satisfied with mcdonalds attempt to address of high cost of cheap. This week the burger chain said it will boost the minimum wage
Continued pressure from abroad. And meeting facetoface, president obama and House Speaker john boehner sit down for a oneonone over the weekend. There are just three weeks left before the u. S. Goes over the fiscal cliff. Italian shares are down nearly 3 this morning. For the most part, it is bank stocks leading the way down. Were now down about 2. 76 on the ftse mib. Bank stocks have been hit particularly hard this morning. Earlier, we saw shares down 5. 6 . Were seeing the same thing, whether its bmps hitting session lows down nearly 6 comes amid concerns about leadership and economic reform in italy following mario montes announcement that hell resign once the budget has been passed. This move is likely to bring the country forward to elections next year. The italian Prime Minister has offered no clue as to whether or not he will run and it comes after Sylvia Berlusconi declared over the weekend he would throw his hat in the ring for the job of premier. Carolyn ross is in italy foll
Biggest problem at the moment in july prices rose by 10 percent. Thats the highest for a g 7 member. And it could get worse. Brits could see inflation levels around 20 percent next year. Thats at least according to a forecast by goldman sachs. Im joined now by hillary ingram. Shes an economist at lancaster university. Hillary. Lets start with these new growth figures. A 2 tenths of a percent. How should we understand this . Oh, as you said, it was a, a slightly lower figure than was some expected. Its almost very close 0 actually, if you look at the 3 month picture, growth is absolutely flat. So allow, the u. K. Economy has actually entered recession. There is no signs of positive grants. A toll on the has been some modest growth in services. But in terms of production, in terms of construction, theyve both fallen. Not surprisingly, the production figure is largely driven by a gas, electric, air conditioning, et cetera, which actually has fallen by 3. 4 percent. So for services there w
Thats the highest for a g 7 member. And it could get worse. Brits could see inflation levels around 20 percent next year. Thats at least according to a forecast by goldman sachs. Im joined now by hillary income. Shes an economist at lancaster university, hillary. Lets start with these new growth figures. A 2 tenths of a percent. How should we understand this . O, as you said, it was a, a slightly lower figure than was some expected. Its almost very close 0 actually. If you look at the 3 month picture, growth is absolutely flat. So ally the u. K. Economy has actually entered recession, there is no signs of positive grounds. Told. There has been some modest growth in services, but in terms of production, in terms of construction, theyve both fallen. Not surprisingly, the production figure is largely driven by, you know, gas, electric air conditioning, et cetera, which actually has fallen by 3. 4 percent. So for services there was growth in Consumer Services of point 6 percent. But if you
Merkel and others committed to some day doing the kinds of physical transfers of Banking Units they need. And there has been some Real Progress even off that cleanup. But none of that is going to offset the unemployment numbers, barred from that the lack of investment, the constraint on demand from the austerity programs, the feedback in europe. So, again, it is Real Progress, but thats not going translate to growth anytime soon. When you say not going to translate into growth, what is the outlook . To me, what ive been saying for a few months is that europes past is bounded from below and from above. Weve ruled out the worst of the crisis, thank god. But the austerity, unemployment and continued downward wage pressures put a tight ceiling on growth. So germany is growing less than 11 . France is toying with recession. Spain and italy are going to be in actual recession and i think the imfs latest update is much closer to reality. I still think they the only upside surprise i can see h