Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
8-1-2007 Bally Total Fitness files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
NEW YORK - Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp, one of the largest U.S. health club operators, has filed for bankruptcy protection, after struggling in recent years with membership declines and too much debt.
The Chicago-based company and more than 40 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Bally has struggled in recent years to attract new members, and in March said it expected continued membership declines through at least 2008.
Among the affiliates that are reorganizing is Jack LaLanne Holding Corp., named for the fitness and nutritional expert, court papers show.
Bally said Jefferies & Co. and the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP are advising it on the bankruptcy process. It said a committee of bondholders retained Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin Capital and the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as advisers.
Shares of Bally closed Tuesday at 41 cents on the Pink Sheets.
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Keep spinning Dave, it's the only thing you know.
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
8-1-2007 Bally Total Fitness files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
NEW YORK - Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp, one of the largest U.S. health club operators, has filed for bankruptcy protection, after struggling in recent years with membership declines and too much debt.
Bally's going under has nothing to do with discretionary spending. Their facilities are disgusting, their "contracts", which are nothing more than high interest loans to sucker new members in, are outrageous, and their business practices are deplorable. They have pretty much eliminated themselves from the market by being so abusive towards their customers, who renew at a much lower rate than the typical fitness center customer.
As usual, dave knows pretty much nothing about what he is posting about.
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Keep spinning Dave, it's the only thing you know.
Talking about Adult discretionary spending.
Children spending Daddy's money is not dicretionary spending.
You must be still a child to not know that.
Originally posted by: JD50
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Keep spinning Dave, it's the only thing you know.
Talking about Adult discretionary spending.
Children spending Daddy's money is not dicretionary spending.
You must be still a child to not know that.
Ummm.....yes it is.
Oh, and BTW....You are pwned again
1. US computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2006 to $7.4 billion ? almost tripling industry software sales since 1996.
2. Sixty-seven percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 38 years old. In 2007, 92 percent of computer game buyers and 80 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2006 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.
6. Eighty-six percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents? permission when renting or buying games, and 91 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.
7. Thirty-six percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (20%).
9. In 2007, 24 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. Forty-nine percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 34 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
8-1-2007 Bally Total Fitness files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
NEW YORK - Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp, one of the largest U.S. health club operators, has filed for bankruptcy protection, after struggling in recent years with membership declines and too much debt.
Bally's going under has nothing to do with discretionary spending. Their facilities are disgusting, their "contracts", which are nothing more than high interest loans to sucker new members in, are outrageous, and their business practices are deplorable. They have pretty much eliminated themselves from the market by being so abusive towards their customers, who renew at a much lower rate than the typical fitness center customer.
As usual, dave knows pretty much nothing about what he is posting about.
Oh please.
What is it about "one of the largest U.S. health club operators" do you not understand?
Reading much?
Originally posted by: Hacp
Originally posted by: JD50
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Keep spinning Dave, it's the only thing you know.
Talking about Adult discretionary spending.
Children spending Daddy's money is not dicretionary spending.
You must be still a child to not know that.
Ummm.....yes it is.
Oh, and BTW....You are pwned again
1. US computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2006 to $7.4 billion ? almost tripling industry software sales since 1996.
2. Sixty-seven percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 38 years old. In 2007, 92 percent of computer game buyers and 80 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2006 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.
6. Eighty-six percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents? permission when renting or buying games, and 91 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.
7. Thirty-six percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 17 or younger (20%).
9. In 2007, 24 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. Forty-nine percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 34 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
What does that prove? The data you presented could mean anything. To me, it states that Daddy sticks to minesweeper while he buys WoW and Everquest for his children.
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Guaranteed most of the jobs losses will be in the U.S.
They use "Global Economy" to hide the real facts now.
How pathetic
8-2-2007 Unilever to Reduce Work Force by 20,000
Among the businesses up for sale is Unilever's U.S. laundry arm known for products such as All, Surf and Snuggles. The U.S. laundry operations -- with some 3,000 workers -- had sales last year of $800 million.
"Despite rising commodity costs, we have started to see the benefits of growth coming through in the bottom line," Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said.
He said the company had been able to pass the higher costs of raw food materials -- oils and dairy products -- on to consumers by raising prices.
Wood said Unilever's decision to sell the U.S. laundry operations was as important as the earnings themselves, because the company planned to save 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) by "clustering regional structures ... reducing supply chain costs," he said.
=====================================
Translation - Everything is cheaper in China.
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
Keep spinning Dave, it's the only thing you know.
Talking about Adult discretionary spending.
Children spending Daddy's money is not dicretionary spending.
You must be still a child to not know that.
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize spending on computer games as a sign of economic prosperity.
Yachts are expensive. Travel is expensive. But a good computer game offers a large amount of entertainment value at a purchase price of a couple cents per hour. For example, if you were to become an online multiplayer gamer for a game that doesn't require a subscription (many first person shooters if not most) then it would prove to be very cheap entertainment. Even WoW for $15/month is inexpensive if someone's going to spend 15 hours/month playing it (cheaper than going to the movies).
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize spending on computer games as a sign of economic prosperity.
Yachts are expensive. Travel is expensive. But a good computer game offers a large amount of entertainment value at a purchase price of a couple cents per hour. For example, if you were to become an online multiplayer gamer for a game that doesn't require a subscription (many first person shooters if not most) then it would prove to be very cheap entertainment. Even WoW for $15/month is inexpensive if someone's going to spend 15 hours/month playing it (cheaper than going to the movies).
The point is that people are still spending money on toys. Dave characterized Bally's financial woes as a sign that everybody is poor. I simply point out that instead of spending $30/mo on a gym membership people are spending money on other things. What they spend it on and the relative value is irrelevant.
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize spending on computer games as a sign of economic prosperity.
Yachts are expensive. Travel is expensive. But a good computer game offers a large amount of entertainment value at a purchase price of a couple cents per hour. For example, if you were to become an online multiplayer gamer for a game that doesn't require a subscription (many first person shooters if not most) then it would prove to be very cheap entertainment. Even WoW for $15/month is inexpensive if someone's going to spend 15 hours/month playing it (cheaper than going to the movies).
The point is that people are still spending money on toys. Dave characterized Bally's financial woes as a sign that everybody is poor. I simply point out that instead of spending $30/mo on a gym membership people are spending money on other things. What they spend it on and the relative value is irrelevant.
It has nothing to do with people spending in other areas. Other fitness companies are doing quite well. The problem is that Bally's is such a crappy company and I know first hand.
In 2005 my wife's doctors found growths on her thyroid. At the time she was very ill much of the time and could not work out. At the same time we moved to NoVA and the nearest Bally's was more than an hour away. She wasn't working and I was working a lot of hours. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer soon after and we made almost weekly trips up to NYC to see her doctors.
At the time we were paying ~70/mo, my wife was out of work, and we were trying to aborb moving to a new place. I called Bally's to see if we could suspend payments until my wife was better. They required us to send copies of our travel invoices to NYC, notes from her doctors, and verification that the travel time between our house and the nearest place was an hour.
Even through all of that they still wouldn't work with us. Instead, they threatened that if we didn't pay (which we were) that they would send collectors after us and trash our credit. Quite a nice company.
I did visit that local place twice. It was a disgusting facility that was very dirty and very poorly maintained.
My story isn't unique, as Bally's has been successfully litigated by not only individuals but state AGs for their crappy business practices. Anybody can google and find these issues. The company is filled with all sorts of nasty tactics in their zeal to maintain a stranglehold upon the people they loop into horrible contracts.
My "membership" expires in a few months and I do not plan to renew. Bally's can burn in hell for all I care.
Originally posted by: BoberFett
And yet you still maintain that Bally's financial trouble is a sign that America is crumbling. You are a moron that can't keep your lies and spin straight anymore.
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Guaranteed most of the jobs losses will be in the U.S.
They use "Global Economy" to hide the real facts now.
How pathetic
8-2-2007 Unilever to Reduce Work Force by 20,000
Among the businesses up for sale is Unilever's U.S. laundry arm known for products such as All, Surf and Snuggles. The U.S. laundry operations -- with some 3,000 workers -- had sales last year of $800 million.
"Despite rising commodity costs, we have started to see the benefits of growth coming through in the bottom line," Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said.
He said the company had been able to pass the higher costs of raw food materials -- oils and dairy products -- on to consumers by raising prices.
Wood said Unilever's decision to sell the U.S. laundry operations was as important as the earnings themselves, because the company planned to save 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) by "clustering regional structures ... reducing supply chain costs," he said.
=====================================
Translation - Everything is cheaper in China.
Originally posted by: Fern
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Guaranteed most of the jobs losses will be in the U.S.
They use "Global Economy" to hide the real facts now.
How pathetic
8-2-2007 Unilever to Reduce Work Force by 20,000
Among the businesses up for sale is Unilever's U.S. laundry arm known for products such as All, Surf and Snuggles. The U.S. laundry operations -- with some 3,000 workers -- had sales last year of $800 million.
"Despite rising commodity costs, we have started to see the benefits of growth coming through in the bottom line," Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said.
He said the company had been able to pass the higher costs of raw food materials -- oils and dairy products -- on to consumers by raising prices.
Wood said Unilever's decision to sell the U.S. laundry operations was as important as the earnings themselves, because the company planned to save 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) by "clustering regional structures ... reducing supply chain costs," he said.
=====================================
Translation - Everything is cheaper in China.
Dave, why the concern about a European company? Unilever is not American. It was founded in the UK (and Holland).
Why do you care if a UK company sells off it's US operations?
Did you think Unilever was a US company?
Fern
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Expect to see more businesses that rely on discretionary personal spending to go belly up as more Americans go down the ladder economically:
And yet I hear spending on computer and video games is going through the roof. Or do you not consider video games discretionary spending? Maybe Americans have just moved to a new fad?
I wouldn't be so quick to characterize spending on computer games as a sign of economic prosperity.
Yachts are expensive. Travel is expensive. But a good computer game offers a large amount of entertainment value at a purchase price of a couple cents per hour. For example, if you were to become an online multiplayer gamer for a game that doesn't require a subscription (many first person shooters if not most) then it would prove to be very cheap entertainment. Even WoW for $15/month is inexpensive if someone's going to spend 15 hours/month playing it (cheaper than going to the movies).
