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A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.
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52 comments:
So, has the age of deconsumerization arrived? Better late than never... and, anyway, we the Emerging Markets will feel the pressure of megacorp brands for some time as they attempt to reap their profits elsewhere. "Money exists to be spent" as the saying goes, though no currency loses its value faster than any of these consumable/wearable/disposable trinkets.
I was in Chicago when a bunch of organized jews started Starbucks and then did their best to destroy 100's of local coffee shops ran by families and people feeding their family. Starbuck creators and financiers made way too much money and the chain has taken way too long to die off. It's too bad the wealth these people accumulated can not also be destroyed.
Yeah let's close down all stores. Then we can go back to the good old days and hand sew everything together. Qweef you become more and more loopy every day dude.
I sent the following letter-to-the-editor in my medium size town in a big retail market 3 months ago. To my surprise, it was published. Sems like I was not alone:
DIE Mervyn’s. You will NOT be missed, at least by me. After succoming to the pitiful begging of your emplyees into accepting one of your branded credit cards, using it and then attempting to correct an error through your, in my opinion, grossly incompetent and generally unhelpful website and then onto your Nazi-inspired credit card processing firm, I just plain gave up (congratulations, you WON? http://youtube.com/watch?v=EbpRqE-NiRA) and paid the account in full, shredded the card and closed the account and prayed for revenge on Mervyn’s from the Gods of Karma. Well, it looks like payback is coming earlier-than-expected… My hope is that the wheels of karmic justice grind you into bankruptcy, liquidation and oblivion. Good Riddance, In my opinion. DIE.
Maybe we will have some parks and play grounds soon instead of all this crap. Maybe some trees and even some ponds. Maybe people will be able to just sit there with their kids and simpy relax. I'm in Fort lauderdale and there is nowhere to go like this.
Add this POS business on the
ash heap:
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cookie retailer Mrs. Fields Famous Brands LLC said on Friday it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to help restructure its business, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing."
You forgot Steve and Barry, Sharper Image, etc. I got a Z-Gallery gift card for a birthday present. . .am going to spend it as fast as I can. . .that store looks like the next to go - needless things for needless people!
Hey Keith I've gotten some great curtains and food containers at Linens and Things.
And Mervyn's is a great place to run in and pick up some new kicks!
Seriously though I agree with you the economic viability of these big box stores is going up in smoke. As a small business owner myself who's been looking at small retail fronts here in Socal I can tell you the rents are outrageous even with a mass of vacancies!
As this all shakes out and ALL rent levels reduce (commercial included) I hope to see more small specialty shops thrive. Locally owned businesses help the tax base of their communities as well as supporting other local businesses.
Friedman called it "Creative destruction" right?
Hello .25c coffee at the local donut shop.
Here in Seattle people say "you'll have to pull my latte out of my cold dead hands".
The stuffy "latte culture" can't die soon enough!!
Starbucks, Sharper Image, Mrs. Fields, etc......RIH.
Overall I agree with the sentiment - but you can actually get a venti brewed coffee (not a latte) at Starbucks for less than you can get a large coffee at Dunkin Donuts. But the company does strive to treat their employees well and provide affordable healthcare which is better than most US Corporations these days and they do donate proceeds from the sale of their Ethos water to help build potable water supplies in 3rd world countries. As opposed to Dunkin (in my town anyway) that seems to hire only people from 3rd world countries that have questionable legal immigration papers. Besides - I live in NY - and until Starbucks came to town - it was nearly impossible to find a place to take a leak in NYC. So cheers to you Starbucks! As far as I can tell - my local mom & pop place closed not because Starbucks opened around the corner but because their greedy landlord that bought their shopping plaza tried to quadruple their rent when their lease was up.
Don't forget Mrs. Fields....
my local mobile gas use to sell tastier coffee at a third starbucks prices, but i like your concept of that quartering my third....... but those cokies are a real loss tho at those prices ive not had one in years.................
Yeah, New Delhi (aka Dunkin) Donuts is far superior to Starbucks. Way more cultural diversity and boy can they deliver the unexpected. I bought one of their "fresh baked" muffins and found the center was still frozen solid!
There are literally dozens of chain restaurants and stores currently operating on the verge of bankruptcy. Maybe Obama will come up with a retail bail-out program to save them. And why not? The dumb-ass taxpayers in this country sat there and watched Congress ram though a "housing" bailout package for the benefit of big banks.
And there are going to be a lot more. It's just that they think they are into real estate the price just goes up and up. The problem with these companies are the WalMart effect. If I can pay 5bucks for a toothbrush holder (from China)why would I go to Linens and Things and buy a toothbrush holder for 30 bucks (from China) Like a blogger said it's lower the damn price. These people have invested so much in the bottom line and to satisfy stock holders they actually thought they were going to give customers a shitty product (from China)for a ridiculous price and think people are going to concede and say I can't find it any where else, and then they find it at WalMart for 20 bucks less (products made in China).
You also forgot about Krisy Kreme, Lillian Vernon, Sharper Image, Circut City, Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, soon KMart, JCPenny is catching hell, Jewelery Stores, Gas Stations, mom and pop stores, Chinese restaurants. Yet there is a proliferation of Mexican restaurants so if no one else can stay in business how can they. They are like Chinese they will work for you but they won't eat your food. Maybe the USA has a limit to the American dream. Not everyone can open a business and expect the world to beat a path to their doors. Those late night infomercials have foreigners thinking the USA streets are paved in gold. Make 15,000 a month, buy a house for 1 million dollars, buy a masarati, wear designer clothes (isn't Macy's having a wobbly bottom line)like Noriel Roubini says these are the last days of the American Empire. Good now maybe some of these non english speaking, rude, seperatist, want it my way, I want to drag my home country here and reestablish it on a major street and ignore the country they are in will go home.
Hey wc, starbucks is not the only place to take a leak in NYC. There's Burger King, McDonalds, KFC,...
I never eat at McDonalds, but I'm thankful they're there when I need to take a leak. It's a public restroom with a fast food section at the front.
Went To Home Depot this morning (Saturday) to pick up some weed killer. Normally the parking lot would be jammed, but plenty of open spaces now. I would expect the spring and summer months are the big ones for them and Lowes so it might be interesting to see what happens when the slower winter months come. Based on the activity I saw this morning there I doubt if they were even covering their overhead at the store, let alone making a profit.
The Wall Street crowd likes to brag how efficent the free market system is, but with all these retail chains going belly-up it really shows how piss poor they are run. These aren't Mom and Pop seat of the pants operations filing bankruptcy. They are well established national, and international companies who apparently have grossly mis-judged the market and over extended themselves so much that they are unable to weather this downturn.
It's not stores that are bad, it's the sheer number of them. But why wouldn't corporations put a (Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Rite-Aid, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, Best Buy, Pets mart) on every corner when they have plenty of money to do so?
And where did that money come from? From 30 years of conservative fiscal policies that reduced corporate taxes to zero and kept wages low. Plenty o'CASH to put your shitbox retail outlets everywhere!
You libertarians should be happiest of all instead of trying to sound like socialists. FREE MARKET, free minds, right?
LOL, good to see this shithole country declining. I can't wait to spend my twilight years watching the kids of today and their children suffering under the ignorance of their parents' and grandparents' voting patterns! Of course I won't be doing it here. Only the top 5% will be able to retire in this capitalist/libertarian nightmare. I can't wait to leave and watch this m*th*rf*ck*r burn!
i'm proud to say that i have probably spent less than 50 bucks in starbucks since it's beginning.
i never understood why someone would wait in line for a fracking cup of coffee.
the best line i ever waited in was general admission concert for an AC/DC concert at the age of 20.
best fracking concert i have ever been to my entire life.
Maybe you can add Mrs. Fields' Cookies to that list. Apparently she is filing for bankruptcy.
I dont think sears is doing that great either.
Walmart has put circuit city out of business pretty much.Anyone seen the electonics dept at walmart lately?
Went to a linens n things store yesterday taht was pretty much picked clean.
Is it me or are we getting way to many sporting goods stores.Big5 will probaly go under next.Dicks has put them out of business.What about office max or office depot?
Odd a brand new Starbucks just opened down the street from my house. And a new bog box mall is under construction, with most of the spaces leased out already.
"I never eat at McDonalds, but I'm thankful they're there when I need to take a leak. It's a public restroom with a fast food section at the front."
Poetry. Pure and Simple.
(and true, too).
While I am ecstatic that these chains are failing left and right, I am equally saddened for the families affected by these closings. These places employed people who have nothing to do with the bully, egotistical nature of these conglomerates, but they will be the ones to pay the ultimate price for it. Good riddance however just the same!!!
I would love to see parks and play areas created (fat chance however) where many of these malls once stood (at some point soon many will fail)!!!
Exercise and places for families to gather and get to know one another... what a concept!!!
"...You libertarians should be happiest of all instead of trying to sound like socialists. FREE MARKET, free minds, right?
LOL, good to see this shithole country declining..."
Would be even better if the rubes didn't buy that one party or the other caused it.
BIG CLUE for you, Jethro: They are but two wings of the same criminal enterprise that drained all the capital offshore.
We're left holding the debt bag.
Hey Keith,
Can you do 2 "tote boards" along the right side of screen:
1. Bank Failures
2. Chain Store Failures
I'm losing track.
Also, what's up with Ace Hardware...their shelves are 70% empty. I can't even get a bag of potting mix.
And another thing, Starbucks coffee STINKS...just awful!! I like strong coffee...a shot of espresso in an Bolognese coffee bar in the morning was just the thing.
One other thing...I've been looking for a small commercial property (to buy) for some time now. I thought housing prices were crazy till I looked a some commercial stuff...INSANE...a quick cash flow analysis shows they aren't even close to affordable. Man, what's going to happen to all these huge commercial spaces...far too big for most, I'd say.
Gabor: Lovely idea isn't it.
I had an epiphany day before yesterday. I am in Westminster, a suburb of Denver, living with son. Haven't gotten around too much in my time here, finally learned where things were and used said son's vehicle. It's now defunct and we haven't got a new one yet (don't do auto loans). I had to get some things and walked across lots of concrete to wend my way across the local mall. It was in the 80's and I was so overheated from the radiant heat added to ambient temperature. I thought my goodness, if the gasoline crunch ever takes people out of their cars, they will absolutely hate large malls for the heat problem.It's a whole different story WHEN YOU ARE ON FOOT, and I'm not even talking about getting there.
grandma pkk
Anonymous Anonymous said...
The Wall Street crowd likes to brag how efficent the free market system is, but with all these retail chains going belly-up it really shows how piss poor they are run. These aren't Mom and Pop seat of the pants operations filing bankruptcy. They are well established national, and international companies who apparently have grossly mis-judged the market and over extended themselves so much that they are unable to weather this downturn.
--------------------------------
LOL. The American worker can only support so many CEO's. Some of the surplus CEO's must head for the unemployment line (or be exported). I hope they wind up living in a cardboard box somewhere!
I brew my own coffee at home, and pour it into a travel mug, before heading off to work. I also pack my lunch. Doesn't anyone do this anymore?? I think people need to get back to the basics again. I prefer smaller local owned restaurants, and also think gas station coffee works pretty well too in a pinch, and usually for .99 I say good riddance to the Starbucks and big box store mentality.
Yeah let's close down all stores. Then we can go back to the good old days and hand sew everything together. Qweef you become more and more loopy every day dude.
No worries, after Obama declares Islamic sharia law, we'll all be living like that.
First everything was Bush's fault, now everything is business's fault.
I love how liberals who take that extreme stance forget who is signing their paychecks.
Something strange is happening in the world of consumer goods. OK, it could be a fluke, it could be that I am having a bad run of luck. Maybe this has nothing to do whatsoever with the big picture.
And yet... the things I am buying these days, brand new, expensive items are defective.
It's just plain weird.
Oh well, maybe I have sucker written on my forehead in invisible hobo code. Or maybe the manufacturers are cutting corners.
I will tell you this. It is WAY annoying.
I hate to say it, but these big box stores will just go back to their legistlative buddies, both nationally and locally, to create some "regulation" that will tilt the tables even further in favor of big corporations over the little guy. That's why these businesses that seem economically non-viable make it. They start with such a head start from government concessions, it's easy for them to dominate.
I hope someone (or the future itself) will prove me wrong. After all, I live in Phoenix.
Dave ...
I brew my own coffee at home, and pour it into a travel mug, before heading off to work. I also pack my lunch. Doesn't anyone do this anymore??
==========
Yes. It's called poor people. Congratulations for making it into the club Cletus.
First everything was Bush's fault, now everything is business's fault.
I love how liberals who take that extreme stance forget who is signing their paychecks.
=======
You see Bush is Business and Business is Bush. Bush is also Oil, and oil is business. So in the diseased liberal mind you blame Bush, you blame Big Oil, you blame business, it's all intertwined.
Yet these are the sames liberal who blog all day on a Dell/Apple using an Intel chip, blogging on Google and using power provided in some shape by oil and/or natural gas. And most of them are IT nerdlings who work as tech support for a corporation.
Hi Bitter!
Funny you mention the number 30. So does this article, one of Brooks' simply brilliant pieces. Here's a key line,
An information revolution has increased the economic rewards of education and punished those who lack it.
http://tinyurl.com/5jugfb
I liked Bennigans. It was fun and cheap.
"You see Bush is Business and Business is Bush. Bush is also Oil, and oil is business. So in the diseased liberal mind you blame Bush, you blame Big Oil, you blame business, it's all intertwined...."
----------------------------------
Where do the Sheeple get the idea that is all some Liberals fault?
Oh yeah, Hannity, Limbaugh, the MSM.
Come on. Lets all get absorbed into the Libertarian New World Order.
War is Peace.
Debt is Wealth.
Slavery is Freedom.
Your Libertarian Masters love you.
Education hasn't increased the lot of people by that much. The bulk of the populace still struggles day to day.
Only a few reap the rewards in a capitalist system run amok. But not until 51% are in stark desperation will we see changes. And when they come I hope they're violent and painful and focused on conservatives.
Having worked at some Fortune 500 companies, I laugh when I hear discussed "running the government just like a business." If you want bloated management doing everything it can to run things into the ground, and still failing, then you want that. As it stands, these companies have billions of Wall Street dollars to waste, and they waste them. Unfortunately, by the time the are through, local compitition is long gone too.
LOL. The American worker can only support so many CEO's. Some of the surplus CEO's must head for the unemployment line (or be exported). I hope they wind up living in a cardboard box somewhere!
Hit-run defendant's fall from tech elite
So this is what had become of C. Wayne Cox.
Dick Levy, a well-known philanthropist and Silicon Valley board chairman, stared at the newspaper mug shot in disbelief.
This guy had it all - once.
Cox was an elite engineer at Varian, a medical technology company that Levy helped run. The intelligent man with a slight Southern twang was living in a Saratoga ranch home with his wife of 27 years and two children. He adorned his wife with strands of pearls, expensive watches and once, for Christmas, a gold cat pin with twinkling emerald eyes.
That was back in the '80s and '90s.
And, now, here Cox was again - the 66-year-old man charged with fatally plowing his 1994 Infiniti into a pair of elderly church friends out for a stroll. One witness said he reached out the window to push one of the dying victims off his hood, then drove away. Police say Cox was a transient living out of his car.
Sure thing bitter renter, time to storm the bastions of those wealthy "conservatives" who ruined your life. Just remember though, sometimes that glorious revolution you long for has a tendency to eat its own.
Replace wealthy conservatives with apparatchiks who disguise their wealth and what exactly have you accomplished? I hear some folks tried that worker's revolution ploy about 90 years ago, and after killing 50 million wealthy conservatives and other assorted enemies of the state, they called the whole thing off.
Bitter, what the fuck does this sentence mean?
-------------------
Education hasn't increased the lot of people by that much.
-------------------
You're making me suspect you did the typical fringe thing, NOT EVEN READ THE ARTICLE. Both the left and right fringe will not be exposed to any ideas they don't totally agree with.
Now, if you're trying to demonstrate that you're educated then that wasn't a good sentence to start off with.
But I digress. Brooks said plainly 'for the first time in the countries history the education level of people leaving the work force is higher than of those entering it'.
I was lucky enough to have parents who told me from an early age I was going to college and be something.
I honestly feel sorry for those who didn't have this influence, and who at age 35 read this Brooks article and realize they squandered the last 20 years. To make it sound even worse, if they start now, by the time they recoup those 20 years they'll be 55.
Again it's the american educational system and social fabric that failed them. Parents to retarded to pull away from americanos next top model to spend time and advise their children.
The television industry is more corrosive than the drug and alcohol industry on society.
Bitter idiot,
Have you ever worked for a poor person?
Then again, have you ever worked?
You sound like the typical lazy American who does nothing all day then complains that he's poor. You are a parasite that is killing the host. You and your ilk should be rounded up and sent to the gas chambers.
The ploy may have ended but the wealthy conservatives are still dead, a huge improvement of the planet.
To the wealthy worshipping idiot who "never worked for a poor person": Why not go back to feudalism or a monarchy? You'd be very happy in such a system.
The ploy may have ended but the wealthy conservatives are still dead, a huge improvement of the planet.
To the wealthy worshipping idiot who "never worked for a poor person": Why not go back to feudalism or a monarchy? You'd be very happy in such a system.
The Wall Street crowd likes to brag how efficent the free market system is, but with all these retail chains going belly-up it really shows how piss poor they are run.
You just contradicted yourself. These stores are going out of business because they are poorly run. They will be replaced by more efficient stores. That is the free market system. Go take a look at the socialist public school and state-run DMV systems.
I love how all these leftwing nuts are in denial. They think that the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are libertarian acts. Those are two criminal organizations created by the FDR Raw Deal socialist government and now bailed out by the taxpayers through the socialist democrat majority in Congress. The banks are being bailed out by the socialist Federal Reserve and FDIC, both created under the democrat Congress and presidents.
Keep an eye out for El Torito, and Marie Callenders. Also, many Ford, GM, and Chrysler dealerships are closing.
As a business owner, I am thinking of closing my restaurant. I can withstand a 2 to 3 year recession, but the Fed won't let that happen. The Fed is creating an 8 to 10 year recession by constantly trying to save wall street. Wall Street, the people who gave us the tech bubble, the real estate bubble, the commodities bubble, and the next bubble. These bubbles have done nothing but rob the middle class.
Big business already knows that if a store isn't profitable now, it won't be profitable 5 years or 10 years down the road. If you're struggling now, you will struggle a lot more in the next 10 years.
Be flexible and do something else. Bicycle shops, scooter dealerships, fast food franchises, and gun stores are doing very well.
Anonymous said...
I was in Chicago when a bunch of organized jews started Starbucks and then did their best to destroy 100's of local coffee shops ran by families and people feeding their family. Starbuck creators and financiers made way too much money and the chain has taken way too long to die off. It's too bad the wealth these people accumulated can not also be destroyed.
August 16, 2008 2:39 PM
WELL STATED.
Keith, please add a "Bed, Bath and Beyond" outlet photo to this post - for the love of God!!!
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