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Restaurants on the Ropes
Tweet Share on Facebook June 12, 2009 Comment (155)When Americans get stressed out, one thing they do is eat. But apparently not enough.
The dismal economy has punished retailers, with companies like Circuit City and Linens ’n Things going extinct and dozens of others losing money. Now it’s hitting their cousins in the restaurant industry, too. The Bennigan’s and Steak & Ale chains were early casualties, going belly up last summer. This year, with Americans cutting back on spending, sales at restaurants could fall by 10 percent or more. Analysts don’t expect widespread closures, but some chains are likely to close unprofitable outlets, cut back on service, and look for other ways to reduce costs.
As in retail, companies that help people save money will weather the storm better than others. Chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Olive Garden, which offer ample portions at value prices, should do OK and maybe even pick up market share. It helps if they’ve been run conservatively, with low borrowing costs and cash held for a rainy day.
[See who stands to gain from the General Motors bankruptcy.]
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What Else Rush Limbaugh Should Boycott
Tweet Share on Facebook June 10, 2009 Comment (35)If Rush Limbaugh wants to properly protest the Obama bailouts, he’ll have to boycott a lot more than General Motors.
Limbaugh and some other conservative pundits have suggested that Americans should refuse to buy cars from “Government Motors,” as a way to express their outrage at President Obama’s interference in our free-market economy. “Be it General Motors, be it Chrysler -- whatever else Obama ends up controlling and running -- the American people are not going to want it to succeed,” Limbaugh said on his radio show recently. He also cited a poll claiming that nearly one-quarter of Americans support a boycott of GM.
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How TARP Paybacks Expose the Weakest Banks
Tweet Share on Facebook June 9, 2009 Comment (6)The government has finally acknowledged something it wanted to keep secret six months ago: Which banks are in the worst financial health.
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Why the Economic Recovery Won't Feel Like One
Tweet Share on Facebook June 8, 2009 Comment (19)The recession is dividing America into economists, and everybody else.
The economists are the ones probing for "green shoots" (the most overused cliché of 2009) in all those economic reports that make the headlines. For the most part, what they're seeing is bad news that's less bad than it was a few months ago. An economic recovery has to start somewhere, and before things start to get better, they have to stop getting worse. The data watchers are getting excited because many of the indicators that were collapsing not long ago—like home sales, credit availability, consumer spending, and overall economic growth—aren't collapsing anymore. They're just...declining.
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Why You’re Going to Save More, Like It Or Not
Tweet Share on Facebook June 5, 2009 Comment (11)Congratulations, America: You’re learning how to be thrifty after all.
Now, for the sake of the economy, would you please cut it out?
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What China Gets From Bailing Out Hummer
Tweet Share on Facebook June 3, 2009 Comment (99)Nobody saw this one coming: An obscure Chinese company that doesn’t even build cars buys a troubled but iconic division from General Motors. Hummer, made famous by American G.I.s, Arnold Schwarzenegger and oversized U.S. consumers, will now be run by a construction-equipment company located 1,200 miles southwest of Bejing (and 8,000 miles from Detroit). It’s tempting to laugh it off as globalization run amuck.
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The Overwrought GM Eulogies
Tweet Share on Facebook June 2, 2009 Comment (3)End of an era. Fallen titan. Epic decline. Death of an American icon.
If you haven’t gotten the message by now, let me spell it out: The General Motors bankruptcy is a national buzzkill that officially signals the end of the glory days. The world no longer admires our products--or us. We’re a has-been nation. The party’s over, and there aren’t going to be any more parties.
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How GM Gets Its Groove Back
Tweet Share on Facebook June 1, 2009 Comment (8)With General Motors in bankruptcy, an army of lawyers will battle over the best way to dispose of the assets of the “old GM.” But an even more important job is keeping the “new GM”—the smaller, healthier company expected to emerge from bankruptcy—in business.
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Who Will Gain From the GM Bankruptcy
Tweet Share on Facebook June 1, 2009 Comment (238)The huge General Motors bankruptcy is the best of several bad options for America’s biggest automaker. By allowing the company to shed debt, unload its weakest assets and rapidly streamline, the Chapter 11 filing allows GM to stay in business, become competitive once again and someday return to profitability.
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How To Tell If You Should Buy an American Car
Tweet Share on Facebook June 1, 2009 Comment (29)America's bankrupt automakers have an unusual pitchman: President Obama. "If you are considering buying a car, I hope it will be an American car," Obama said earlier this year. That might sound patriotic, but Obama has an ulterior motive. The government now owns a big chunk of General Motors and Chrysler, so it wants to make sure the struggling automakers move the metal.
