Trend: people aren't eating out anymore

The very crowded can't- get - a seat cafe I go to was empty at lunchtime today.

People have decided to bring their lunch to work to save money.

The good news is that cafes are having to get real about the crazy prices they like to charge.

Take this story of dining in Oklahoma - where like everywhere, the recession is "scorching the restaurant industry."

A cafe owner had to do something drastic or his restaurant would go under too.

So he started an all-you-can-eat sushi for $9.99.

And it brought the business back.

The recession will end in... how about 2012?

About time someone started getting real about how long and how deep this downturn / recession/ depression is really going to be.

Hail courageous Mr Husing.

In California Riverside County has sunk into a deep recession — potentially the most prolonged since the Great Depression — and might not recover until 2012, economist John Husing says in a report to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Months ago, Husing said he saw recovery in 2010. He now predicts the rebound won't arrive until 2011 or 2012.

Going for broke - courts can't keep up with company failures

The law can't cope with the number of companies going broke.

It's becoming a world wide picture.

NBR reports Auckland’s High Court has had to schedule extra sessions to cope with the increasing number of companies going under.

The number of businesses being placed into liquidation is rising dramatically as the recession bites: last week in Auckland alone, more than 100 companies were called in court proceedings to be closed or placed into liquidation.

In the UK, a company which broadcasts English Premier League football under the name GTV to tens of thousands of subscribers across Africa has gone into liquidation.

In Minnesota today, the newspaper, the Star Tribune's move to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy puts 1,400 local workers' jobs in limbo.