Sainsbury’s launches the world’s first people powered checkouts

First there was wind and solar energy, now Sainsbury's is opening a store where the checkouts will be powered by people; using advanced technology that allows customers to shop and save (the planet that is).

‘End of Supercycle’

Copper, aluminum, nickel and platinum are poised for the
worst year on record, falling at least 63 percent. The
Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials lost 52 percent
from a record reached July 3, after posting a 17 percent gain in
2007. Prices declined as the U.S., Europe and Japan fell into the
first simultaneous recessions since World War II. China’s economy
may grow as little as 5.5 percent next year, the weakest pace
since 1990, according to CLSA Asia Pacific Markets.

The end of six years of rising commodity prices undermined
expectations that manufacturing growth in China would accelerate
demand for raw materials for years in a so-called commodities
supercycle.

“Until we see Asia really picking up again, and I don’t
think that’s going to happen in the next couple of years, then
it’s the end of the supercycle,” John Clemmow, an executive
director at UBS AG, said in an interview in London on Dec. 11.

mpacto distributivo ya que el mencionado aumento del desempleo y el crecimiento de la informalidad laboral afectarían sobremanera a los hogares de más bajos ingresos y aquellos liderados por mujeres".

De acuerdo con el organismo, Perú crecerá 5,0%; Panamá 4,5%, y Cuba y Uruguay, un 4,0%, liderarán el crecimiento económico en 2009.

A continuación se ubicarán Bolivia y Venezuela, con 3,0%; Argentina, con 2,6%; Brasil, con 2,1%; y Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua y Paraguay, con 2,0%.

Seguirán Haití y Uruguay, con 1,5%; Costa Rica y El Salvador, con 1,0%, mientras México será el país de menor crecimiento, con 0,5%.