Basically, a negative slope points to a shrinking economy.

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"We are unsure of the ultimate significance of more than one negative CV signal, but it could put Celebrex on an even slipperier slope given the totality of CV findings across the entire COX-2 category of products, " Anderson wrote.

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Stated differently, if Simon was really betting that inflation-adjusted prices of a basket of commodity prices have a significantly negative trend over long periods of time, and Ehrlich was betting that the slope of that line was significantly positive, I think Simon wins the bet.

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