Tough Times Ahead

And yet more bad news for the restaurant industry: "There has been so much of a focus on Wall Street and the credit problem, but the real source of the problem in the fourth quarter is going to be consumer spending, and restaurants are one of the canaries in this coal mine," Edward E. Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, told the LAT. "If the restaurants are open and no one shows, if businesses do not get revenue, people lose their jobs and cut back even more." [LAT]