starker's, Woolworth had a nail in the coffin for year's they went under her in Canada basically in the early '90s recession.
That may have been so for Woolworths in Canada, going guts up after the US operation collapsed, but in the UK and Australia it had been going reasonably strong until the current financial crisis. In fact, Woolworths is the largest retailer here in Oz and continues to dominate the retail sector, owning such sidelines as clothing, furniture and electrical stores, liquor and fuel outlets, and etc, etc. So no, Woolworths here isn't going under any time soon.
As for the comment I made on perishables, I was speaking with the local Woolworths store manager regarding the very issue of dumping perishable food items when they could probably have been sold with a price reduction, and he stated that he would prefer that option but it is NOT Woolworths policy to reduce prices across the board on perishable stock to make it sell.... thus, tons of food is dumped every week while people are having to go without due to inaffordability., which totally stinks when they can make predatory price cuts to put smaller operators nearby out of business. So it's not like they can't cut prices, but rather that they WON'T.
Your comment abour perishables was good but, global food production was the lowest in 50 years last year. If it continues to drop when the recession end's there will be substantial inflation in the average person's grocery bill.
Food production has dropped in the last 50 years because large corporations (like Woolworths) have priced the small producers out of business with predatory pricing, wholesale and hostile takeovers and refusing to buy their produce if they didn't cow-tow to company policies. Hence, we have corporate farmers who control pricing, distribution and what is marketed... meaning some items disappear from the shelves and consumers lose variety/choices.
So yeah, there will be wholesale inflation to the average person's grocery bill, but before AND after the recession, because of corporate greed and many more small producers going to the wall during the recession/depression.... and things are gonna get a whole lot uglier before they get ANY better. And this does not gel well for companies putting out luxury and non-essential goods and services: ie, Stardock... because people will use their shrinking and devalued disposable incomes to feed, clothe and house themselves and families... because trade emissions schemes are driving electricity costs up (mine has risen $90 - $120 per quarter as a result of emmisions trading) and people won't have their PC's on for endless hours at a time, and then it has to be considered if they can afford to buy/run new computers AND customise them.
Lets also remember that "recession" is also a term often used by various media outlets to make the situation much worse than it really is. I'm not saying there isn't a recession and all that, but it doesn't affect 100% of the population.
The media may use the term "recession" to grab headlines, but there is no doubting there is a very real recession going on worldwide right now... and while it may not be affecting 100% of the population (there's a wealthy 5% who will carry on regardless), there is a growing number of people suffering it's effects each day... and the more that suffer it the more that will, because societies are interdependent and rely on one section to support another, which supports another and so on. Sure, the US would adapt and survive it one of its automakers went down, but this is far, far bigger than that... we're talking several automakers and major businesses going guts up worldwide.... and that is not something any small entity dependent on the viability of others can dismiss as not affecting it/them, because it does and will.
It's one thing to be optimistic and remain positive in difficult times, but another to get too cocky and turn a blind eye to that which can destroy you... the bankers did it, and now look at where we are.
Doesn't seem to have much effect.
This year will be the best year for ODNT users in years.
I sincerely hope you're right. However, it is worrying to read that many people are saying they can't afford to renew their subs due to the financial squeeze. I myself am not stuggling to put food on the table, but with the current exchange rate dictating that I pay almost double that of last time, I'm finding hard to justify upping my sub at AUD$104 when my electricity costs have risen by around 30% and other priorities may well arise.