People who use Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and other products in their baby line may have noticed the phrase “Improved Formula” on the bottle. Those two words represent a victory for consumers who have made their wishes known in a way that manufacturers understand, a challenge to their bottom line. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) was...
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‘Shop local’ has good momentum building
The holiday shopping season will be strong for community-based mom-and-pop operations that know their customers, customize products and services to community tastes and offer personalized interaction with consumers. As we have been tracking for several years, shopping malls are on a sharp decline. The big-box stores that anchor those malls, unless they’re upscale retailers in...
Trust overall is in a sharp decline
Since 1972, as part of its General Social Survey, the National Opinion Research Center has been asking a sampling of American adults three questions relating to trust in their fellow man: • Generally speaking, would you say most people can be trusted, or that you can’t be too careful in dealing with people? • Would...
Boomer Renaissance alive
This late-summer headline in Forbes, “Market Basket: The Return of Boomer Activism,” spoke volumes about the Boomer Renaissance trend we have been tracking. The boomer-dominated workforce of Market Basket, a New England-based chain of grocery stores, roared in collective defiance as the company’s board of directors removed the chain’s employee-friendly president as a means to...
Those new jobs are actually a deep loss in wages
Those seeking a light at the end of the tunnel of recovery will be glad to learn that the US has made up the 8.7 million jobs lost during the Great Recession and that the number of people employed now tops the prerecession peak of 138.4 million. Buying that good news? A look at the...
Alternative lending blasts off in 2014
Internet technology, innovation and vision have enabled a new model for financial services that, in just eight years, has generated well over $5 billion in loans to American consumers and small businesses. The most enthusiastic backers are predicting a trillion dollars a year in “marketplace loans” being made by 2025. Wild as that might sound,...
Gold will rebound when borrowing costs rise
After a strong start at the beginning of the year, gold, flirting at $1,200 a troy ounce, is at a nine-month low. The rampant inflation many investors feared would result from several years of record-low interest rates and central bank multi-trillion-dollar money-pumping schemes has not materialized. In fact, deflationary concerns have spurred European and Japanese...
Following fools blindly into war – again and again
As bombs fall in Syria, history is not only repeating itself, it’s bearing down on us with lightning speed. Talk of war once again rules the political dialogue. And the general public is buying it – again. The Sept. 20 headline in the Financial Times says it all: “Americans galvanized for Return to War in...
Learn How To Prosper From Trends Tracking
Gerald Celente, Trends Research Instituteplan History Before It Happens In Your Life Global forecaster Gerald Celente and his Trends Research Institute are planning the second in a series of unique conferences at the institute’s historic facilities in Colonial Kingston, NY, this fall. A few openings remain for History Before It Happens In Your Life, a...
Power’s address leaves me speechless
I have just watched Samantha Power’s address to the United Nations. I’m speechless. The End.