The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[wow_happens28]

"In December, industry-wide sales at restaurants open at least a year slid by 2%, even as the unemployment rate hit a five-year low and the stock market hit all-time highs"

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/michael-santoli/casual-dining-chains-struggle-to-adapt-to-changing-consumer-tastes-203955971.html

I don't believe the media is telling us the whole story about the economy as the charts in the link below show. I repeat that restaurants will be weak as the economy weakens. So, international restaurant chains will have a head wind, but better off than chains based totally in the U.S. Unemployment can get better as more leave the workforce as unemployment runs out. Add to that, people going from 40 hours to 30 so the boss avoids Obama so called Care. And they are counted as full time in statistics.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-10/people-not-labor-force-soar-record-918-million-participation-rate-plunges-1978-level

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/record-20-households-food-stamps-2013