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Chemicals and the Economy

Housing debt challenges the American Dream

The US housing market collapse has wiped out $6tn in wealth since it began in 2006. But even today, little is being done to solve the critical issue – that homeowners took on too much debt, which will never be repaid. As a result, the situation continues to get worse, not better. And some influential […]

The changing landscape for manufacturers

The New Normal involves three major transformations in the nature of consumer markets: • The increasing size of the New Old 55+ age group in the West • Too many young people struggling with higher unemployment • Large number of people moving out of poverty in the developing world These are the great opportunities for […]

US housing discovers New Normal opportunities

The US housing market was the original cause of the current financial crisis. It has gone quiet recently, but this does not mean that the problems are resolved. Quite the opposite, in fact. True, foreclosures have slowed recently, due to legal issues. This is helping to boost consumer spending temporarily, as people stop paying their […]

Doing More with Less – the products of the future

The global economy is moving into a difficult period, as it transitions to the New Normal. Debt levels are high, and incomes are under pressure, particularly for the large numbers of people moving into retirement. Cost must be the key criteria when examining the opportunities for new product development and research. Chapter 8 of our […]

New Year brings major new opportunities

Human beings are by nature optimistic. Otherwise our ancestors wouldn’t have bothered to climb out of the swamps, all those years ago, in the hope there was ‘something better’ to be found. Equally, we don’t usually give up at the first sign that something has gone wrong. We assume that a way will be found […]

The blog in 2011

The blog celebrated its 100,000th visit during 2011. Its readership also continued to increase, and now covers 142 countries and 5992 cities. The map shows the major centres of readership, which include all the main petchem hubs. Readers also remain very loyal, with 40% visiting at least once a week during 2011. Over the past […]

The blog’s Christmas Quiz

Its now 3 years since the Great Recession began. US GDP is still below previous peaks, despite $5trn of stimulus spending and quantitative easing. The position in the Eurozone is even worse. China’s economy will be lucky to escape with a ‘soft landing’. Policymakers seem to have lost the plot. They have forgotten, or maybe […]

Pensions fall as financial market turmoil continues

Increasing life expectancy is an enormous benefit for today’s population. We can all, whether in developed or developing countries, expect to live a decade or more longer than our grandparents’ generation. Yet pension systems haven’t adapted to this change. The money we now save is still only enough to pay for a few years of […]

BabyBoomers change the markets

Consumption dominates chemical demand. Chapter 7 of our new ‘Boom, Gloom and the New Normal’ eBook therefore looks at the changes taking place in consumer markets. These provide vital insight into how chemical markets are likely to develop in the New Normal. The key learning is that companies are re-adapting their business models. The great […]

US farmland enters the New Normal

The downturn in the US housing market is turning out to have a silver lining, according to the Wall Street Journal. It describes how farmers in some areas are now able to buy back land previously sold for housing development, and return it to agricultural use: • Residential land value has fallen 70% since the […]

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