Janet has written that she doesn't think a recession is happening. I will say I disagree, and you can see several posts below that make that point. However, there has not been an official call of a recession, and until there is you can have this debate -- I just think Janet is in a very small minority here. As CNN noted on Friday, to Janet's point, there's a big difference between the low- and high-end restaurants. I have no idea which places Janet and her husband went to. I had thought the high-end Ruth's Chris type places would survive this thing, and that only the mid-range places like Red Robin or CPK would get hurt. It might move up the ladder, though. Places that rely on lunch business from workers are also going to get hurt. Speaking of which, off to Panera.

• If it be recession, it will be wimpy? (Aug. 26 -- superceded by events on that wimpy thing, alas.)
• Graph of the day (Sept. 5 -- ditto, but even Friday's numbers don't change the message of that graph)
• Now it's nine. (Oct. 3)
• Start date of recession? (Oct. 21.)

Update by Janet, Nov. 10, 5:22: I know King is an economist, a very good one. He's the guru and analyst - I go by what I see, so we will differ. For the record, the four restaurants were: Perkins, Champps, Red Lobster and The Lexington - the first three are mid-range; the last one, top.

Labels: economics, food