Today, we announced that Starbucks will introduce an instant coffee, providing our customers with great tasting Starbucks coffee, anywhere and anytime. Not surprisingly, this news raised some eyebrows and some cynics are asking, "Why go instant, Starbucks?"

There are numerous logical reasons: the significant size of the instant coffee market...

Repairing the damaged U.S. economy will surely be among the top priorities of President-elect Obama's new administration. But it is not reasonable to assume that our great country's future economic prosperity lies in the hands of one man, or will necessarily follow simply from a change of administration in Washington.