From Reuters.com
Graphic: Thin-film solar cells
Dow Chemical plans to sell a new rooftop shingle next year that converts sunlight into electricity and can be integrated with standard asphalt shingles. It is expected to generate $5 billion in revenue by 2015. For more Green Business news click here.
Can France accept a food and wine critique from America?
Michael Steinberger says he is just a concerned friend sending a message to France. Steinberger, the wine critic for online magazine Slate says in his book “Au Revoir To All That. Food, Wine and the End of France” the nation that spawned food revolutions worldwide is in dire need of help to renew its own passion for good cuisine.
An avowed Francophile, he isn’t surprised the book doesn’t have a French publisher. “My hope has always been that it would be published in France. I don’t think the book can in any way be read as being somehow anti-French. I think it is a love letter to France from a concerned friend,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
It was bad economics, an overbearing state bureaucracy and the tyranny of a restaurant guide that contributed to driving France’s famous food and wine culture into the ground, he argues.
On the Michelin Guide, the book that arguably brought French culinary triumphs into the broader global consciousness, Steinberger says it is now a millstone around the restaurant industry’s neck. The suicide of three star chef Bernard Loiseau in February 2003 proved a turning point. “(Bernard) Loiseau really, that affected the course of French cuisine in a lot of ways. A lot of younger chefs looked at that whole thing and said this is crazy. The pursuit of three-stars, the desire to keep three stars, drove this man to his grave…. A lot of younger chefs said no way. Loiseau was a watershed moment for French cuisine, a watershed moment for Michelin,” he said.
When and where was the last time you had a French meal worth remembering? Is Steinberger onto something here?
Watch video excerpts from the interview here:
Well, I can remember the last time I had an AMERICAN meal. It was at a MacDonald’s in Paris, the fries were bland, the hamburger too salty and greasy, probably in order to cover the total lack of aromas.
The day ahead: Tuesday
As the largest initial public offering on a U.S. exchange in 18 months, the share sale of Banco Santander (Brazil) will likely attract plenty of demand even as some investors balk at the price of the stock.
* Santander’s Brazilian unit is expected to launch a $8.78 billion IPO, the largest U.S.-listed offering in 18 months.
* Pepsi Bottling Group, the largest bottler of PepsiCo drinks, will report third-quarter earnings. Investors will no doubt be looking for details regarding the upcoming acquisition of the bottler by PepsiCo.
* Analysts expect Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC parent Yum Brands to report weak third-quarter same-store sales in the United States and China, its largest markets.
* At the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit expect interviews with JP Morgan Chase U.S. Private Bank CEO Catherine Keating, SG Private Banking Asia CEO for Singapore and South Asia Pierre Baer and HSBC Managing Director and Head of Personal Financial Services Godfrey Swain.
Graphic: Rio de Janeiro’s winning bid
View a larger version of this graphic here.
Follow the live blog on the Olympic decision.
People from Brazil, and those who love it, will always try to minimize the horrific situation in Rio. But the testimonies are true, I’ve been there. We were staying at the expensive Marriott right on Copacabana Beach (adjacent to Ipanema), and my friend was robbed of his camera right there in front of the hotel at 5 p.m. One guy wrapped a jacket over his head while another took a knife and slit the camera strap off his arm, which my friend had wrapped round and round his arm to avoid theft.
Then, in broad daylight, I was accosted by a band of kids right on the beach. I managed to get my whistle out of my pocket and I blew it and pretended to wave to someone in the distance, as if I were an undercover cop. They got scared and ran away. I would have been helpless without that whistle.
I visited a club just 2 blocks from my hotel, and when I left, the doorman warned me not to walk, but take a taxi… for just two blocks in the expensive, well-kept part of Rio.
Read countless similar horror stories (and worse) all over the web. Brazil and similar countries do not deserve our tourism until they clean up their act.
Sure they’ll clean it up for the Olympics, but I will advise everyone not to go there unless and until it is proven over a period of time that they’ve finally decided to crack down on crime in a meaningful and lasting way.
The day ahead: Friday
Jobs numbers are key to gauging the strength of an economic recovery although some see the September data as being bolstered by government spending programs.
* Non-farm payrolls for September probably fell by the smallest amount in a year, more proof the economy is pulling out of recession, but the jobless rate likely ticked up.
* Also due are factory orders for August, which are expected to have risen 1.1 percent, a shade lower than the 1.3 percent rise recorded in July.
I think it was marx/engles that gave the power of all hiring and job distributin to the state, the state of course owned all property, thereby eliminating the first tenant of capitalist society.
As an entrepreneur, I am extraordinarilly dismayed that I must fight my way through years of federal agencies, improperly using their power on behalf of a large US Corporation, to unreasonably restrain my activities, run me into the ground – then suggest the type of position I held when I was 19 or to take classes I could teach when I was 15. While depriving me of the utility of my capital in creating my own wage – aka entrepreneurism and in some cases, repeatedly gifting my intellectual capital to lobbying interests. Then suggesting low-wage earning positions for me in those lobbying interests.
will someone please explain to me the tenants of democracy and capitalism?
The day ahead: Thursday
Consumer spending is in the spotlight with U.S. auto sales and personal income and outlays data expected.
* Auto sales probably fell in September back to the nearly three-decade lows of early 2009 without government incentives to spur buying.
* Data on personal spending is due. Economists estimated that U.S. personal income rose just 0.1 percent in August after being flat in July and that personal spending jumped 1.1 percent after a 0.2 percent July increase.
* Additional data includes: pending home sales, ISM manufacturing index and initial jobless claims.
* Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on financial regulatory reform before the House Financial Services Committee.
* Reuters Restructuring Summit in New York and London features interviews with Barclay’s Capital Managing Director and Head of the Global Restructuring and Finance Group Mark Shapiro and AlixPartners Vice Chairman Al Koch.
I am just puzzled at the fact that somebody’s income is actually gone up. All I see around me is incomes going down. An how can income go up in the summer, this is not even the time of pay raises and bonuses. Is the Government cooking statistics yet again.
It is a military tranparency exercise. No need for foreigner to guess. It is also a patriotism exercise. To make the Chinese nationals aware of their military might and gain confidence that they do not have to “win” at every international conflicts to protect the nation.
Wilke, Ned and Pepe are both fine. They have gone back to help out at Coconuts which didn’t fare so well.
The day ahead: Wednesday
The ADP employment report and final numbers on second-quarter GDP are among the highlights expected on Wednesday.
* The ADP National Employment Report for September is expected to show private employers cut far fewer jobs than in August.
* The final estimate on second-quarter GDP figures should confirm that the country suffered a 1.2 percent contraction in economic growth over the summer.
* The Reuters Global Restructuring Summit continues in New York and London. The Central European Investment Summit wraps up in Vienna.
* BAE Systems faces a deadline to plead guilty and agree to a substantial fine over allegations of bribery and corruption or face possible criminal prosecution.
Agree with Mesr Middlebrook. The political, social and fiscal burden of this long-term high unemployment can only bring trouble. I only hope that those 7-10% unemployed don’t fall under the sway of some fanatic somewhere to create greater problems – which unfortunately I expect to happen….
They’ve had these for years. Wake up, America and wake up ,Reuters. Dow is way behind times.