Breastaurant wars, Surrendering jobs
Good day for busted monopolies, Bad day for a good start to the week
GOOD DAY FOR: Busted monopolies, as the original “breastaurant” Hooters is getting competition. In Texas alone, cleavage-themed restaurants like Twin Peaks and Bone Daddy’s are popping up, drawn by Hooters’ gravity-defying growth amid a broader restaurant industry slowdown. “In this society, we’re a little bit repressed,” says Cornell University restaurant management lecturer Rupert Spies. “Fantasy goes a long way. Sex sells.” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
BAD DAY FOR: A good start to the week, after companies announced at least 50,000 job cuts Monday, pushing the January total above 170,000 layoffs. Leading the pink-slipping were Caterpillar, with 5,000 new layoffs; Sprint, with 8,000 jobs; Pfizer, also with 8,000 cuts; Home Depot, with about 7,000 jobs; and GM, with 2,000 layoffs. And economist Peter Morici thinks we’re only halfway through this recession’s job cuts. “We are going to see the fury of the Old Testament for what we have done to the economy,” he said. (BusinessWeek.com)
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