But a big part of that consists of restocking after a savage downturn that has left inventories depleted.
Mr Pandit is trying various approaches to restocking its depleted capital.
Perhaps governments should redirect their investment into natural capital instead, restocking their forests rather than their libraries.The idea that natural assets are substitutable makes some environmentalists (including some contributors to the report) nervous.
And while growth in industrial production looked much healthier in the second quarter, much of the impetus probably came from restocking.
Yesterday, in a speech in South Carolina, Ben Bernanke indicated his belief that consumer spending was ready to begin sustaining America's economy recovery:While the support to economic activity from stimulative fiscal policies and firms' restocking of their inventories will diminish over time, rising demand from households and businesses should help sustain growth.
(The German economy is more sensitive to developments in Asia than most other developed countries, because of its strong export bias).The argument of Edwards and some others is that the surge in commodity prices (and global economic activity) earlier this year was down to restocking.
Influences outside agriculture make matters worse: a weaker dollar makes restocking cheaper in local currencies; and dearer oil pushes up the cost of inputs (it takes vast amounts of energy to make nitrogen fertiliser, so fertiliser prices track oil prices).Some people mistakenly blame yet another factor: speculation.
But at the same time she emphasises the importance of restocking America's soft power and repairing its relations with the rest of the world.Any Democratic winner will be able to tap into a huge store of goodwill abroad.
And unusual activity among some manufacturers may be throwing off the seasonal adjustment:Many manufacturers — particularly auto makers like General Motors — aren't shutting down this summer as per usual in order to ride strong demand from the inventory restocking cycle.
As a result, the increase in claims has been less than what's typically seen at this time of year, pushing the seasonally adjusted figures lower.Other indicators suggest that the boost from the inventory restocking cycle may be wearing off.
Even so, its biggest application is expected to come from printing plastic chips on consumer items such as T-shirts, drink cans and food cartons for displaying health messages or providing sales and restocking data.Plastic Logic, also located in Cambridge, England, is developing display drivers using plastic circuitry.
