Consumer Confidence — Should You Care?

Apr 30, 2013

I was quoted in a recent Society for the Advancement of Consulting Press Release on the topic of consumer confidence: “Watch what consumers do and …

A Change Gonna’ Come

Oct 7, 2012

The economics of the music industry have changed drastically in the past 15 years. Of the several reasons two stand out: digitization, and a large …

Rip Van Winkle and General Motors

Jan 8, 2012

Rip slept for 20 years, including through the American Revolutionary War. General Motors slept for about the same duration, but much more recently. Rip woke, …

Squeezing Productivity?

Dec 6, 2010

As the recovery slowly begins, I’ve read entirely too many articles that refer to companies “squeezing more productivity” out of their workers as the reason …

Stay Domestic Over Profits?

Oct 3, 2010

MacNeil Automotive Products Limited has a two page ad in AutoWeek magazine touting their “made in America” commitment. Most of their supplies are from US …

EPA: Energizing Green Where it Can; Enforcing Where it Must

May 30, 2010

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long been considered the agency with the big hammer if a company creates environmental contamination, whether by intent or …

Manufacturing Will Not Die

May 4, 2010

It can’t. People want things and until things are created via spontaneous combustion, nuclear reaction, or other scientific “cloning” methods, someone will continue to manufacture …

Will Energy Prices Rise Because of the Leak?

May 3, 2010

Fear of additional regulations. Backtrack on government consideration of additional deep water drilling. Uncertainty about other wells. Massive loss of oil. Uncertainty of Iraqi elections …

Keeping It Real

Nov 3, 2009

Buy low, sell high. Supply and demand. Economics 101 explained those simple, but somehow still poorly understood concepts. The recent (and in many ways still …