Word: boom
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Franchising may be a century-old idea, but it has never seemed fresher or hotter than in the U.S. of 1987. The business strategy that peppered the land with Golden Arches is in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Never have so many would-be tycoons turned to franchising, and never have they found so many would-be store owners lined up to buy a franchise. No longer limited mainly to fast-food outlets, auto dealerships and motels, the chain-store concept is spreading to an amazing array of goods and services. Consumers in a growing number of cities...
...Every boom spawns its prophets of doom, and the current bull market is no exception. Right now the most visible naysayer is a previously little-known economics professor named Ravi Batra. His eye-catching book, The Great Depression of 1990, has jumped to No. 4 in its sixth week on the New York Times' nonfiction best-seller list. At $17.95 a copy, it has been snapped up by some 175,000 buyers who are either curious or concerned -- or both -- about just how high the current boom can go before it turns to bust...
Stand-up comedy has been a staple of American entertainment since the heyday of the Borscht Belt. But the current boom is something new. TV has clearly played a major role, giving comedians national exposure and drawing on them for starring roles in sitcoms and Saturday Night Live. The intimacy between comic and audience, moreover, may be especially appealing in an age of high-tech movies and supersize rock concerts. Or it may simply be that the instant gratification of one-liners is perfectly suited to the short attention span of the TV-educated '80s audience...
...present themselves as regular folks, directing barbs at familiar subjects, from TV commercials to dating. Their lineage can be traced directly to two influential comics of the 1960s and '70s, George Carlin and Robert Klein. Both rooted their material in the commonplace concerns and shared memories of the baby-boom generation (especially TV) and perfected a lithe, fast-paced style that combined one- liners with a free-flowing melange of characters and scenes...
...erode," says Richard Delaney, chairman of the Coastal States Organization, a group that advocates better coastal management in 30 states (including those that border the Great Lakes) and five territories. The problem, however, is Americans' passion for living and vacationing at the seashore. That has led to a boom in the development of U.S. coastal areas since World War II. "When you ; put a permanent structure onto a piece of land that is by nature mobile," says Delaney, "you have a very serious problem...