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Debt, Protectionism Could Drag Down Improving Global Economy
By : ProdusB - June 25 , 2017
The global economy has picked up and prospects for the next few months are the best in a long time.
But the recovery is maturing and faces risks from populist rejection of free trade and from high debt that could burden consumers and companies as interest rates rise.
Those were key takeaways from a review of the global economy released Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements, an international organization for central banks based in Basel, Switzerland.
The report said that "the global economy's performance has improved considerably and that its near-term prospects appear the best in a long time." Global growth should reach 3.5 percent this year, according to a summary of forecasts, not quite what it was before the Great Recession but in line with long-term averages. Meanwhile, financial markets for stocks and bonds have been unusually buoyant and steady.
On top of that, forecasts by governments and international organizations as well as by private analysts point to "further gradual improvement" in coming months.
Key risks include a possible weakening of consumer spending across different economies. So far, the recovery has been largely fueled by people being willing and able to spend more. But that trend could fall victim to higher levels of debt as interest rates rise in some countries and as the amount people need to spend to service their debts takes a bigger chunk of income.
Countries that were slammed by collapsing real estate markets during the Great Recession seem less vulnerable now, such as the United States, the U.K., and Spain. But debt burdens are more worrisome in a range of other countries mentioned in the report, including China, Australia and Norway.
Another risk comes from weak business investment, typically the second stage of recovery after consumers start spending more; yet that kind of spending has lagged its pre-recession levels for reasons that aren't always clear to economists.
The BIS urged governments around the world to take advantage of the economic recovery as an opportunity to make growth more resistant to trouble by implementing pro-business and pro-growth measures.
In particular, the report warned against a backlash against globalization, saying that trade and interconnected financial markets had led to higher standards of living and lifted large parts of the world's population out of poverty. It called for domestic policies to address inequality and lost jobs, saying that changing technology was often to blame, not free trade. "Attempts to roll back globalization would be the wrong response to these challenges," it said.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As a supplier of many different sustainably produced and organic textiles, Gecco Interiors were concerned that they were often advising their customers to care for their textiles using 'Green Dry Cleaning'. They wanted to know the facts behind green dry cleaning. Does it exist in the UK , what does it involve and how is it 'greener'?
Traditionally, dry cleaning meant cleaning clothes in liquids other than water and the solvent of choice was perchloroethyene or 'perc'. This has since been proven to be a nervous system depressant and under US federal standards is listed as a hazardous air pollutant. An alternative method had to be found. Three new methods were favoured – washing with liquid CO2 in high pressured machines, using a silicone based solvent and finally, but much less effectively washing with regular water in computer controlled machines.
Discarding the latter due to poor results, they looked firstly at CO2. Normally present in gas form, CO2 transforms into a liquid under high-pressure. In specially designed machines clothes are washed at 900 llbs per square inch of pressure in liquid carbon dioxide and a surfectant (specialist detergent). After the clothes have been washed and rinsed, the CO2 is collected and reused. Several US textile companies have already started using this system commercially, but it is not common in the UK.
The stronger candidate for widespread 'green dry cleaning' comes from a group of ex-dry cleaners who have developed a system called Green Earth Cleaning. This system uses liquid silicone (a liquid version of sand) which is a naturally occurring material and is already used as the base material for many shampoos and soaps on the market today. Textiles cleaned using liquid silicone do not lose their colour, do not shrink and come back feeling softer than before because the silicone is inert and doesn't react with the fibres of the fabric in an aggressive way. It can even be recommended for the most delicate of fabrics. The best thing about this method of cleaning is that there are no nasty residues. When the silicone breaks down it forms three natural ingredients – water, carbon dioxide and sand. Liquid Silicone appears to be the method of choice for UK Dry Cleaners and it is already available on the High Street! Ask your local dry cleaner about Green Earth Cleaning when you next pay a visit.
To view the Gecco Interiors collection please visit their website.


For many people, September means one thing – the announcement of the Strictly Come Dancing line-up! If the show inspires you to attempt a tango or fumble a foxtrot, then do watch out for your knees says Spring Orthopaedic Surgeon Sandeep Chauhan.
Although ballroom is not strictly a sport, it certainly gives the body a good workout – you've only got to look at professional dancers to realise that they are fit, highly trained athletes. But dancers of all levels need to understand that they are prone to injury, particularly if they leap into it without warming up or if they do not usually exercise.
The most vulnerable area of the body for ballroom dancers is probably the knees. Sudden changes of direction, spins, jumps and lifts, not to mention the high heels that ladies are required to wear, put lots of pressure on the knee joints.
A knee injury that often affects dancers is a meniscus tear. In the knee joint there are discs made of tough cartilage known as the meniscus. They lie in the join between the thigh bone and the shin bone, providing cushioning and helping to distribute the weight of the body during impact. Sometimes this cartilage can get torn, either as a result of a one-off incident, such as a sudden twisting movement, or from general wear and tear.
A meniscus tear usually means the knee is swollen and painful to move. Sometimes a piece of torn cartilage can get lodged in the joint, making it difficult to fully straighten or fully bend the leg. Often you can hear a "crunching" noise when flexing the joint.
You can treat these symptoms initially yourself by following the RICE rule – Rest; Ice; Compression; Elevation. The first two are the most important – it's imperative that you stop moving so that you don't do further damage to your knee, and applying ice will help reduce the swelling and therefore make it less painful. A bag of frozen peas is one of the best ways to apply ice as it moulds to the shape of your knee. Don't keep the ice on for too long at a time though and always wrap it in a cloth or towel otherwise you might "burn" your skin.
If your knee doesn't improve within a few days, then you should seek medical advice. Your GP should be the first port of call. He or she will examine your knee and decide whether you need referring to a specialist for further investigations and treatment.
Although surgery isn't always necessary for meniscus tears, it does have very good results. The problem with knee cartilage is that it has very little blood supply, which means it doesn't heal very well by itself. This is why some people have a chronic knee problem that may not be terribly painful or debilitating, but all the same stops them from being as active as they would like to be.
Surgery for a meniscus tear is usually very straight-forward and can usually be done via keyhole surgery as a day case. The operation will either repair the tear, or remove the torn piece of cartilage so that it doesn't interfere with the action of the knee joint. After the operation, you will probably need crutches for a couple of weeks while healing takes place, but it shouldn't be long before you can waltz back onto the dance floor!