POLL: Are you making more or less this year?

I was reading the thread on the recent restaurant closings of late and was wondering a couple of things: One, (like many others contributing to the thread) how many of the places would have failed regardless of the economic conditions? And two, have we really had than many more restaurants close this year than any other? I am far too lazy to actually research the second question, but the first question got me thinking....what exactly are the "economic conditions" in Louisville? Being the pseudo-intellectual that I am, I did an informal, yet highly scientific ("Tell me how much you make!")poll of friends and co-workers. The results..out of twelve people surveyed eight were going to make more this year than last! Two of them are in the financial business!! The four not making more are making the same. Sweet Maria! Where's the doom and gloom? Now, I am not in denial that there are in fact people out there struggling, but sometimes here in Louisville we like to live vicariously through the rest of the country and hangh onto our dough in preperation for a storm that may not be coming. My observation has been that we don't get to enjoy the "highs" nor do we have to endure the "lows".

So here's an even more scientific poll. Forget about your market investments unless you live off interest or proceeds from sales of said investments. So are you making more or less this year?

I added another selection to the poll ("I will make about the same") not realizing it would reset the whole thing. So if you voted earlier please vote again.

GR

Ive had the same sort of discussion with people I know and basically came to the same conclusion. But then again, most people I know do not have exceptional net worth or a lot of money tied up in investments that have suffered recently.
Ive also thought about the topic of restaurants closing due to the flailing economy. The restaurant industry is one with a very, very high failure rate, even for places that do things really well on a consistant basis. There is no set formula or playbook to follow for opening, maintaining, and sustaining a restaurant that will be profitable and enduring. If there were, none would go out of business. At the risk of sounding mundane, its just a fickle business, and there are WAY to many variables to go into here.
I guess my point is, I think its really hard for anyone to say whether or not restaurants are closing at a rate that is higher than normal due to the current economic slump without first comparing this years closings against an averaged sample of the closings of , say, the last 10 years.
I think I have a new project.

My $.02