Among the apparent victims of this trend are holders of the Charles Schwab Bank Visa, which not long ago charged no annual fee and paid holders a flat 2% cash back on purchases.

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The second, and more puzzling, trend is the apparent shift in the relationship between unemployment and inflation.

ECONOMIST: The great American jobs machine

You may not have seen much written about this subject in recent years but the trend is acutely apparent in U.S. trade figures.

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The trend is most apparent in the music industry.

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In each case the trend has already been apparent for a generation or more (the Japanese steel industry, for instance, cut its workforce by close to half in the 1980s).

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There's no apparent sign of a political warming trend.

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The trend is most marked in the rich West, where it has been apparent for some time.

ECONOMIST: Singletons