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people rarely held on to money in the form of cash for any length of time, for the most part due to lack of access to banks and/or the high cost of maintaining an account proportionate to their incomes. Cash was rapidly converted to goods based on priorities and these 'goods' acted as insurance (silver), savings (buying building materials on a piecemeal basis as cashflow allowed until the house could be built), a cushion aka insurance (selling a pig for an emergency or eaten for food) and finally investment (milk bearing cow, young piglets to rear to maturity, etc).

The 5th Montreal Citizen Summit is a social forum open to all and is based on the concept “The City We Want”. This event will take place from June 5-7, 2009 at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and will be an opportunity for citizens and civil society practitioners to strengthen their ties in order to collectively organise social action initiatives. The Summit will also be the opportunity for citizens to learn and exchange on urban issues related to this year's themes: 1) Economy 2) Urban planning 3) Social justice, inclusion and citizenship 4) Environment 5) Democracy 6) Culture.

I find this extremely fascinating. In a way, the Japanese are looking at these products like pieces of abstract art. On the other hand, if you understand English and especially it’s cultural connotations, there is a good chance that these will look funny to you. In today’s visually over-saturated world, various brands compete in trying to produce striking graphics to influence the consumers. But free trade and competition in today’s global economy has made many of the products essentially the same in content. So in some cases, the only difference with those products is the packaging, or the form.

Sony, the Japanese electronics company, said Thursday that it expected to post a record annual operating loss of nearly $3 billion because of the rapid deterioration of the global economy. It also announced a major restructuring that will include layoffs and factory closings.

In the late 1980s, Japan was awash in seemingly unlimited wealth and rising toward what would be the peak of its modern economic success, power, and influence. In 1991 the same lethal combination of risky loans, inflated stocks, and real estate speculation that created this "bubble economy" caused it to burst, plunging the country into its worst recession since World War II.