Just tons of stuff again this week… and once again they’ll be another post end of the week- so please check on back.
One of the bigger stories that got precious little play was the announcement that the communist Chinese government was reducing the rebate to their industries- thus forcing them to attempt a novel approach and start to not give products away. Obviously and evidently, these daily articles that show up in the USA Today and all over the country are having an effect, and maybe the US Govt nudged their communist pals and said “you know, you gotta straighten up some- we’re getting tons of heat here” or something like that. Bottom line- step in the right direction- but will it stop the communist flow into our continent and their desires to take over everything from glazing to fabricating? Not a chance. Believe me, as long as there is so much extra capacity in communist China, they’ll be issues over here.
Elsewhere this week…
-- And one more note on China… manufacturers reps, that had deals with Chinese companies are getting burned badly. Yes in classic nasty business maneuvers, these reps are working to get Chinese companies materials accepted and sold and then once that happens, guess what? They are getting stiffed on their commissions!!! Ah you deal with the devil, you may get burned… basically the MO is simple, the rep gets the products approved and engrained and when the customer goes to order (usually the 2nd order- not the first) the Chinese will play the “ther're a house account” card. So manufacturers reps, beware, because if you do get hung, good luck suing for your cash.
-- On a happier note- Congrats must go out to Scott Surma of IIMAK- he and his wife Anjanette welcomed baby daughter Berkley to the world this week. For anyone who knows Scott, they know he is extremely high energy, so I am guessing his little girl is already angling to be CEO of her day care class (with plans on calling on an architect or two as well!) Anyway, best to the expanding Surma clan!
-- This week’s “Green is Everywhere” piece… (and I could literally do an entire separate blog on “Green is Everywhere” as its virtually inescapable!) In this week’s Parade Magazine it gave advice for you to figure out your “Carbon Footprint” - which means basically the things you do to live your life is calculated and you then know how much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere- affecting the climate. They even gave a link at www.carbonfootprint.com (or click here) so you can see. By the way the article said one of the bigger carbon footprint angles are weddings. That line then got USA Today obviously thinking because on Monday they ran a huge story about marrying “green” (click here). This stuff is surreal.
-- And lastly there’s no way I can ignore the firestorm that surrounds the possible Vistawall sale. Those posts last week generated a good amount of e-mail (which for those of you new to this site, my address is MAXBCAT@aol.com) that ran the gamut of emotions. Everything from confirmations that they’d heard some of the same things, to plans in the future for the newly acquired Vistawall, to a rebuke from one person that told me with all due respect to mind my own business. But the underlying tone to the majority was the “culture” angle both from people who could be in the deal and people outside of the deal, the meshing of the cultures of two large companies- with their own identities really carried the day. So we will see. As for the other possible destination for Vistawall, that rumor is still percolating out there, so time will tell who was right and who may have been smoke-screening….
And like I said above- a second post coming later this week… as for the Video of the week… it comes from the NBC show, The Office, and its one of those classic office pranks- but in reality can this EVER happen?
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