Buying Right

Building off of one the theme’s from last week… and that’s buying material domestically. In fact, look for a serious strengthening of the “Buy American” act by the next administration. Allowing projects that have public money in them (Raleigh Airport, Sprint Center etc) to have foreign material in it is insane. With this country in a bit of a struggle and jobs being one of the priorities going forward, having a strong system in place is a must. So I think before that P.O. is placed with the Chinese or the Columbians you may want to think twice. Regardless of when the teeth get back in the “act” I can tell you when people get slow they have time on their hands to take these things on. And no way will a major project with municipal money on it go without someone questioning the product supply chain.

Elsewhere…

-- Saw the Glass Expo Midwest has Steve Fronek from Wausau has one of its keynote speakers. Steve is a very good guy and his speech on “Solar Powered Opportunities” is reason enough to attend. Not sure how she does it but every year Deb Levy and company get solid people to present and having Steve this year carries that tradition on. For more info on this show- CLICK HERE

-- The “scammers” that USGlass has written about a few times in the last few months are back with a new approach. These folks now are approaching glass shops and the like with the cover of being a charity. (Insert NFRC joke here) They are contacting shops and saying they are doing building work for the charity and getting people to try and put their guard down. It’s an amazing how creative crooks can get eh? Add on to that, the new e-mail edition of the scam features requests from Rabbi’s and Priests! So if you get a request for 1000 pieces of glass from a Priest and he is asking for payment terms etc (all the classic scam elements) beware…

-- My Birthday was this past Saturday… so I am sleeping in… all is well… and my dog (70 lbs of a Standard Poodle) jumps up on the bed… I think to myself that he wants to wish me a happy birthday right? Well he does… He lifts his leg and pees on me! Oh Happy Birthday indeed…. So it begs to question… having your dog pee on you, on your birthday morning, is that any way a good omen? And also since when did my dog become a fan of the NFRC, China or lawyers? Since all of those folks would probably have loved to done the deed… oh well… gotta be a good omen right?

-- Note all lawyers except Kim Mann of course.

-- Saw USGBC approved LEED 2009…. Man and I just figured out 1.0. But seriously it will be interesting to see if the new release will be any more user friendly. We still know that glass and aluminum take a short shrift there… some day that hopefully will change.

-- Last on the glass shortage... its funny that some believe it does not exist... you know why you don't feel it? Because incredible purchasing people (like a certain VP of Supply Chain that I respect immensely, Mr. Dan Wagner) work with their teams and with the manufacturers to make it as painless to the buyers as possible. Believe me, if you saw what goes on at various purchasing sites and the manuevers that these fine folks have to make, just to make sure the glass is still flowing, you would be blown away. I just wish for the heck of it that the manufacturers and fabricators would slack off on this effort so people that believe this is all "made up" would get to experience it. Oh well. Bottom line is it nice to see talented people doing all they can to keep things rolling- you kinda wish these were the type of people in governmental positions....

From the LINKS…

-- From the “Sucker born every minute file” this lady fell for those Nigerian “get rich” e-mails. Its stunning really… everyone gets them and its been on the news but yet daily people fall for it. This story is especially sad because of how much she spent. By the way, the comments on the story are almost as bizarre as the story itself.

-- Fantastic Op Ed from Mitt Romney on letting the Big 3 go down… no bail out.

And by the way, got an e-mail today on a poll that was done about the window industry and whether or not the window industry needed a bailout… 51% said no bail out is needed… but then you had 36% that said yes we need it and we need to lobby and another 14% that said we need it but not worth a lobby effort… so half of the window industry needs a bailout? Wow something tells me a lot of people are in deep trouble there. (I guess that was obvious eh?)

-- The “Link Chick” checks in with this one… a new poll shows ½ of the primary care doctors in the United States would quit if they had an alternative… wow..

-- And my man W. Cash checks in with this link… Guns, guns and more guns… found in SCHOOLS! Unreal… to borrow his line… we need a gun shortage not a glass shortage.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbweapons1119sbnov19,0,7032242.story

Video of the week…

JACK’S BACK!! Yes 24 is back this Sunday with a 2 hour movie that will catch us all up and prepare for the new season in January… and to get you pumped, here’s a preview….