How bad are car sales? Top-selling Toyota reports profits down 28%. But that's partly because it makes a lot of money in dollars and the dollar is worth less after conversion to yen.

Nestle, the world's largest food company, reports lower profits and blames, in part, a one third price increase in robusta COFFEE over the past year.

But even the pessimistic hotel report yesterday had some silver lining - Hawaii room sales, room rates and revenues per room are still among the highest in the PacRim, with only Singapore decisively better off. We're outperforming Tokyo, Phuket and Bali, not to mention Cancun and Nassau in the other hemisphere.

And so we conclude another edition of Crisis at Glance! Any towels stolen from this crisis will be billed to your account.

Other Headlines:
From now through October, Hawaii will have 13% less airline capacity than it did at the same time last year. They can't stay if they can't fly here. Major drops in airlift from Oakland, San Diego and Sacramento. Capacity will be down almost 10% from LAX -- that alone takes almost 50,000 visitors out of the mix.

The Outrigger Keauhou has laid off 34 people including 22 full timers. Big Island occupancy has been down in double digits.

Hawaii hoteliers have been told the worst is yet to come. Joe Toy of Hospitality Advisors briefed them yesterday at the Halekalani, showed charts comparing the down cycles of 1991, 1994 and 2001, and predicted shallower peaks and steeper valley as summer winds down.

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