Starbucks sees decline in US, but when will it happen in the UK?
Starbucks Corporation is to close 600 company-operated US stores in the next year, a considerable hike from its previous plan for 100 closures. It’s a potent indicator of just how screwed the US economy is, but we can only wonder how long it will be before the company starts shutting up shop around the world, particularly in Britain, where many alcoholic drinks in pubs cost far less than Starbucks-branded concoctions.
In the US the cutbacks will impact on over 12,000 workers. Starbucks claims that most of the employees will be moved to nearby stores, and so a spokesperson did not ‘know exactly’ how many jobs will be lost. What a fortuitous expression of ignorance that is, given that job losses never make for news stories onto which a positive spin can be applied.
tags: coffee, corporations, depression, recession, spending, StarbucksWhy bananas could be gone by 2013
Bananas, more of which are eaten in terms of volume than rice or potatoes, have a cancer: a fungus called Panama Disease, it turns bananas brick-red and inedible. There is no cure. They all die as it spreads, and it spreads quickly. In just five years’ time but possibly 10 to 30 years if we’re lucky, if that’s the word, the yellow fruit will not exist. Now that’s a food crisis to make you sit up and take notice.
Bananas didn’t naturally evolve in the form with which we are all familiar, but were deliberately created. Until 150 years ago, some were sweet, others sour. They were green or purple or yellow. A corporation called United Fruit took one type and mass produced it on huge plantations, standardising and shipping it on refrigerated boats across the world. United Fruit built a huge monoculture of bananas, which meant a disease could spread like wildfire. A monoculture is like a party in a phone box for bacteria and viruses.
tags: banana republic, bananas, communists, corporations, genetic modification, monocultures, United Fruit
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