Since that time, the stock has increased small amount, but the expectations for the future seem to get weaker and weaker.

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Startups will consolidate or die in the emerging Asian tech strongholds of China and India as the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker.

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The general level of inflation-proofing that both public and private schemes offer, looks set to get weaker.

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This means that more efficient banks will inevitably get a bigger share of the cake in concentrated markets, such as Britain, and buy weaker, less efficient competitors in fragmented markets such as America.

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To have a chance of surviving in its current state, most economists say the eurozone needs growth and the only way it will get that - across the region - is through a weaker currency.

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However, these studies do show that farmers (who get only about 30% of the retail price for meat) have much weaker bargaining power than the food processors and the supermarkets who can use their clout to keep prices low.

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