How bad is the economy these days? So bad that one of the nation's largest purveyors of custom-made addictive drugs is slashing its forecast yet again as customers tighten their belts.
In the salad days, of course, many Starbucks fans argued that $5 Mocha Frappucinos and $3 coffees were no longer "consumer discretionary" items (stuff we choose to buy when we're feeling flush) but "consumer staples" (stuff we have to buy in thick or thin). Alas, now that the economy is tanking and gas prices are soaring, many consumers are wisely choosing to pump the $4 into their gas tanks instead of their stomachs.
On the back of a recent stock-market rally, you hear rumors that the Fed's emergency injection of cash into the crashing financial system has saved the day--paving the way for an economic recovery in the second half of the year. Don't bet on it. Wall Street may have staved off a Bear Stearns-like fate, but Main Street, which accounts for 70% of spending in our economy, is just beginning to feel the pain.
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10 years hard time for the people who hire them, including the top management of companies like Wal-Mart and all construction companies.
Some families hire illegals to watch their kids? 10 years hard time, no parole.
Some guy hires illegals to mow his lawn? 10 years, maximum security prison with murderers and rapists, no parole.
That will stop the hiring. Illegals will not come over for jobs.
After REAGAN gutted the unions and shifted the tax structure to strangle middle class Americans and benefit the rich (who soon became the uber-rich), the American worker's disposable income slowly decreased, but the spending was buoyed by financial events like the tech boom (and bubble) and the housing boom (and bubble), facilitated by easy credit.


Well, that is not happening now. And corporations have squeezed their workers to fatten their bottom lines (and CEO paychecks) about all they can. What is really needed for American corporations to grow is top line growth - SALES. And sales ain't happening if the middle class is spending all their money on food, gas, their health care, and paying off credit card debt.


The growth of the middle class was signaled last century by businessmen like Henry Ford paying their workers way more than the going price so that they could afford Mr. Ford's new cars. Until that happens, I do not see American businesses, or Americans, doing particularly well.
Starbucks should have known better. It really IS that simple.
We do not grow coffee here as a crop so there is reason for a tax to import but it is a big money maker for the government.