by Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer
"I'm not wanted in this state."
"How many young women work here?"
"I didn't steal it; I just borrowed it."
"You touch somebody and they call it sexual harassment!"
"I've never heard such a stupid question."
Believe it or not, the above statements weren't overhead in bars or random conversations -- they were said in job interviews.
Maybe you were nervous, you thought the employer would appreciate your honesty, or maybe you just have no boundaries. Whatever the reason, you can be certain that you shouldn't tell an interviewer that it's probably best if they don't do a background check on you. (And yes, the hiring manager remembered you said that.)
We asked hiring managers to share the craziest things they've heard from applicants in an interview. Some are laugh-out-loud hysterical, others are jaw dropping -- the majority are both. To be sure, they will relieve anyone who has ever said something unfortunate at a job interview -- and simply amuse the rest of you.
Hiring managers shared these 43 memorable interview responses:
Why did you leave your last job?
1. "I have a problem with authority." - Carrie Rocha, COO of HousingLink
Tell us about a problem you had with a co-worker and how you resolved it2. "The resolution was we were both fired."- Jason Shindler, CEO, Curvine Web Solutions
What kind of computer software have you used?3. "Computers? Are those the black boxes that sit on the floor next to the desks? My boss has one of those. He uses it. I don't have one. He just gives me my schedule and I follow it." - Greg Szymanski, director of human resources, Geonerco Management, Inc
What are your hobbies and interests?4. [He said] 'Well, as you can see, I'm a young, virile man and I'm single -- if you ladies know what I'm saying.' Then he looked at one of the fair-haired board members and said, 'I particularly like blondes.'" - Petri R.J. Darby, president, darbyDarnit Public Relations
Why should we hire you?5. "I would be a great asset to the events team because I party all the time." - Bill McGowan, founder, Clarity Media Group
Do you have any questions?6. "Cross dressing isn't a problem is it?" - Barry Maher, Barry Maher & Associates
7. "If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?" - Megan Garnett, Articulate Leadership Team, Articulate Communications Inc.
8. "What do you want me to do if I cannot walk to work if it's raining? Can you pick me up?" - Christine Pechstein, career coach
9. "I was a Chamber of Commerce Executive once hiring a secretary. [The candidate asked] 'What does a Chamber of Commerce do?'" - Mary Kurek, Mary Kurek, Inc. Visibility Consulting
10. "Can we wrap this up fairly quickly? I have someplace I have to go." - Bruce Campbell, vice president of marketing, Clare Computer Solutions
11. "What is your company's policy on Monday absences?" - Campbell
12. "If this doesn't work out can I call you to go out sometime?" - Christine Bolzan, founder of Graduate Career Coaching
13. "How big do the bonuses really get once you make associate? I hear it's some serious cash." - Bolzan
14. "[The candidate asked,] 'Can my dad call you to talk about the job and the training program? He is really upset I'm not going to medical school and wants someone to explain the Wall Street path to him.' The dad did call. Then that dad's friends called and I ended up doing a conference call with a group of concerned parents ... long story." - Bolzan
15. "If I get an offer, how long do I have before I have to take the drug test?" - Bolzan
16. "When you do background checks on candidates, do things like public drunkenness arrests come up?" - Bolzan
17. "Can I get a tour of the breast pumping room? I heard you have a great one here and while I don't plan on having children for at least 10 or 12 years, I will definitely breast feed and would want to use that room."- Bolzan
18. "So, how much do they pay you for doing these interviews?" - Jodi R.R. Smith, Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting
Why are you leaving your current job?19. "Because I (expletive) my pants every time I enter the building." - Abbe Mortimore, Human Resources Manager, True Textiles, Inc.
20. "I was fired from my last job because they were forcing me to attend anger management classes." - Smith
Why are you looking for a job?21. "Cigarettes are getting more expensive, so I need another job." - Pechstein
22. "My parents told me I need to get a job so that is why I'm here." - McGowan
Why do you want to work for us?23. "Just for the benefits." - Jennifer Juergens, JJ Communications
24. "My old boss didn't like me, so one day, I just left and never came back. And here I am!" - Matt Cowall, communications manager, Appia Communications
25. "I saw the job posted on Twitter and thought, why not?" - Rebecca Gertsmark Oren, Communications Director at The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
What are your assets? (as in strengths)26. "Well, I do own a bike." - Pam Venné, principal, The Venné Group
What are your weaknesses?27. "I get angry easily and I went to jail for domestic violence. But I won't get mad at you." - Pechstein
28. "I had a job candidate tell me that she often oversleeps and has trouble getting out of bed in the morning." - Linda Yaffe, certified executive coach
29. "I am an alcoholic and do not deserve this job." - Deb Bailey, owner, Power Women Magazine & Radio Show
30. "I'm really not a big learner. You know ... some people love learning and are always picking up new things, but that's just not me. I'd much rather work at a place where the job is pretty stagnant and doesn't change a lot." - Michaele Charles, Voice Communications
When have you demonstrated leadership skills?31. "Well my best example would be in the world of online video gaming. I pretty much run the show; it takes a lot to do that." - Rachel Croce
Is there anything else I should know about you?32. "You should probably know I mud wrestle on the weekends." - Venne
When can you start?33. "I need to check with my mom on that one." - Bolzan
Use three adjectives to describe yourself34. "I hate questions like this." - Katrina Meistering, manager of outreach, National Fatherhood Initiative
Tell of a time you made a mistake and how you dealt with it35. "I stole some equipment from my old job, and I had to pay for its replacement." - Meistering
Have you submitted your two weeks' notice to your current employer?36. "What is two weeks' notice? I've never quit a job before, I've always been fired." - Meistering
Random responses37. "One guy [said] 'it would probably be best' if I didn't run a background check on him. Of course, I did, and learned all about his long, sordid past of law-breaking. Our client actually offered him a job as a staff accountant, but quickly retracted the offer when I had to tell them all about his recent arrest for a meth lab in his basement." - Charles
38. "[A] guy said he did not have a mailing address, as he was living in a gypsy camp at the airport." - Sandra L. Flippo, SPHR
39. "I went into the lobby to pick up a candidate. As he stood up, his trousers fell to the floor! [He said] 'Oh, my gosh -- they told me I needed a suit for the interview. I've got no money -- so I borrowed this thing. It's too big!'" - Beth Ross, executive and career coach
40. "Wow -- I'm not used to wearing dress shoes! My feet are killing me. Can I show you these bloody blisters?" - Bolzan
41. "May I have a cup of coffee? I think I may still be a little drunk from last night." - Smith
42. (During a telephone call to schedule the interview) "Can we meet next month? I am currently incarcerated." - Smith
43. "[A candidate] was asked whether he could advocate impartially on behalf of the various universities he would be representing since he had attended one of them. He responded, 'Well, I don't like to poop where I eat, but I thought my education sucked, so I certainly wouldn't put that school above the others.'" - Darby
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
employers beware
Employers beware!
The following item was posted under my age discrimination piece today: — There are couple of different ways to prove age discrimination: —
First, the employee may introduce evidence that the company reduced her salary to eliminate the cost of her comparatively high salary and benefits, but showing that this higher salary was primarily a function of age. However the Supreme Court has expressly held that an employer does not violate the ADEA by acting on the basis of a factor, such as an employee's pension status or seniority or salary, that is empirically correlated with age. Thus, when the employer's decision is wholly motivated by factors other than age, even if the motivating factor is correlated with age, that decision is not contrary to the ADEA. —
Second, the employee can try to prove her case under the burden-shifting scheme of McDonnell Douglas (a famous employment discrimination case). To establish a prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas, an ADEA plaintiff must show that: (1) she is in the protected age class; (2) she was discharged; (3) at the time of her discharge, she was performing her job at a level that met her employer's legitimate expectations; and (4) persons of her qualifications were retained in the same position. —In the context of a hiring decision, you would need to show: (1) you applied for the job, and the job was open; (2) you had the minimum qualifications for the job; (3) you were not hired; and (4) the job remained open, or a person younger than the protected age group was hired, who was less qualified. Posted by Linda Gebaroff If this last paragraph is true (I don't know whether Ms Gebaroff is an attorney with expertise in this area), employers should be scared to death of LinkedIn. Just think: All anybody has to do these days to check out somebody's credentials and qualifications (and frequently age) is see if he/she can access their LinkedIn profile. So, when a youngish candidate gets the job an older candidate wants (companies post these things on their websites), the allegedly aggrieved party can check him/her out in a matter of minutes and call a lawyer...
The following item was posted under my age discrimination piece today: — There are couple of different ways to prove age discrimination: —
First, the employee may introduce evidence that the company reduced her salary to eliminate the cost of her comparatively high salary and benefits, but showing that this higher salary was primarily a function of age. However the Supreme Court has expressly held that an employer does not violate the ADEA by acting on the basis of a factor, such as an employee's pension status or seniority or salary, that is empirically correlated with age. Thus, when the employer's decision is wholly motivated by factors other than age, even if the motivating factor is correlated with age, that decision is not contrary to the ADEA. —
Second, the employee can try to prove her case under the burden-shifting scheme of McDonnell Douglas (a famous employment discrimination case). To establish a prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas, an ADEA plaintiff must show that: (1) she is in the protected age class; (2) she was discharged; (3) at the time of her discharge, she was performing her job at a level that met her employer's legitimate expectations; and (4) persons of her qualifications were retained in the same position. —In the context of a hiring decision, you would need to show: (1) you applied for the job, and the job was open; (2) you had the minimum qualifications for the job; (3) you were not hired; and (4) the job remained open, or a person younger than the protected age group was hired, who was less qualified. Posted by Linda Gebaroff If this last paragraph is true (I don't know whether Ms Gebaroff is an attorney with expertise in this area), employers should be scared to death of LinkedIn. Just think: All anybody has to do these days to check out somebody's credentials and qualifications (and frequently age) is see if he/she can access their LinkedIn profile. So, when a youngish candidate gets the job an older candidate wants (companies post these things on their websites), the allegedly aggrieved party can check him/her out in a matter of minutes and call a lawyer...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tesla gets huge government funding
Let's face it. A $465 million for a few years of work is a heckuva payday.
In yesterday's announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy specifically gave Tesla a $465 million loan to finance a manufacturing facility for the Tesla Model S sedan, expected to be roughly $50,000 cheaper than the Roadster.
The all-electric sedan consumes no gasoline and runs entirely on electricity from any conventional 120V or 220V outlet, getting the equivalent of more than 250 miles per gallon, far exceeding the 32.7 mpg minimum efficiency required for large sedans.
Production of the Model S will begin in 2011 and ramp up to 20,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2013. This integrated facility expects to create 1,000 jobs in Southern California.
Tesla will also build a facility to manufacture battery packs and electric drive trains to be used in Teslas and in other automakers' vehicles, including Daimler's Smart For Two.
The new facility expects to employ 650 people in the Bay Area with early pilot battery pack production to begin in 2011, reaching about 10,000 by 2012 and 30,000 packs in 2013.
This announcement assures that large numbers of electric vehicles will be available to U.S. customers starting late next year and that tens of thousands of jobs will be created.
So congratulations Mr. Musk (and by proxy, Mr. Eberhard) for your success.
Now build it. And we will come.
In yesterday's announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy specifically gave Tesla a $465 million loan to finance a manufacturing facility for the Tesla Model S sedan, expected to be roughly $50,000 cheaper than the Roadster.
The all-electric sedan consumes no gasoline and runs entirely on electricity from any conventional 120V or 220V outlet, getting the equivalent of more than 250 miles per gallon, far exceeding the 32.7 mpg minimum efficiency required for large sedans.
Production of the Model S will begin in 2011 and ramp up to 20,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2013. This integrated facility expects to create 1,000 jobs in Southern California.
Tesla will also build a facility to manufacture battery packs and electric drive trains to be used in Teslas and in other automakers' vehicles, including Daimler's Smart For Two.
The new facility expects to employ 650 people in the Bay Area with early pilot battery pack production to begin in 2011, reaching about 10,000 by 2012 and 30,000 packs in 2013.
This announcement assures that large numbers of electric vehicles will be available to U.S. customers starting late next year and that tens of thousands of jobs will be created.
So congratulations Mr. Musk (and by proxy, Mr. Eberhard) for your success.
Now build it. And we will come.
Hmm , did I predict this one????
A decade ago, few people outside India were aware of the nation's megaconglomerate Tata Group -- or that India had an auto industry. Today Tata Motors (TTM) makes the cheapest car in the world, the Nano (at right), and has become the world's 19th largest automaker.With Detroit in critical condition, two Indian carmakers are preparing to drive into the U.S. market: Tata and rival Mahindra & Mahindra (MAHMF). Tata Motors's recent $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover suggests that the subcontinent has Bollywood-sized dreams -- and the resources to make those dreams come true. Tata's and Mahindra's future here looks very promising, provided they learn to solve an age-old conundrum: that the price of gas tends to rise -- and when it does, so does the popularity of cars that use gas efficiently; and that Americans don't like squeezing into tiny, tinny cars.
Over the decades, U.S. automakers have tended to emphasize legroom over gas-sipping. While more efficient models like Chrysler's 1981 K-car sometimes have given the industry a moment of salvation, Detroit has seemed to regard such victories as anomalies, not fundamental lessons.
The Hummer is the most visible symbol of America's thirst for gasoline, but our gas-guzzling trucks are a close second. While many manufacturers assume that bigger is better, Toyota has carved out a major niche with the Tacoma, the bestselling midsize in the U.S. Priced $2,000 less than the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon, the Tacoma gets two more miles per gallon (on the highway).In many ways, Mahindra's decision to go into the truck business seems insane. Indian cars are renowned for their low price, not their strength or reliability. But Mahindra's truck -- expected to go on sale here this year -- runs on more efficient diesel, and the automaker predicts it will get 30 miles to the gallon. Admittedly, diesel-fueled cars tend to be pokey; then again, professional truckers with full rigs tend to avoid jackrabbit starts.Mahindra has also announced plans to release a diesel hybrid, the Appalachian, by 2010, apparently sidestepping import tariffs by assembling the trucks in Ohio.
Recognizing the prejudices of American consumers, Mahindra has hired Michigan-based supplier Lear Corp. (LEA) to create an interior design catering to our passion for large spaces and sumptuous textures. (Yes, leather seats will be available.) But ultimately, the biggest question is performance. Diesel could give Mahindra's trucks tremendous hauling power; the carmaker says its trucks can haul more than a standard V-6.Of course, among Americans less attached to huge vehicles, India's cars are already famous. Tata's budget-conscious Nano, hailed as the crowd-pleasing successor to the Volkswagen Beetle, runs just $2,000: far cheaper than anything on the market in the U.S. And at just 1,400 pounds, the super-mini runs off a 2-cylinder engine. You probably won't see it in the drag-race circuit, or in NASCAR, but as DailyFinance's Tom Barlow notes, those specs give Tata plenty of room to add the kinds of amenities American consumers consider standard -- and the kinds of safety measures that our laws demand.
Over the decades, U.S. automakers have tended to emphasize legroom over gas-sipping. While more efficient models like Chrysler's 1981 K-car sometimes have given the industry a moment of salvation, Detroit has seemed to regard such victories as anomalies, not fundamental lessons.
The Hummer is the most visible symbol of America's thirst for gasoline, but our gas-guzzling trucks are a close second. While many manufacturers assume that bigger is better, Toyota has carved out a major niche with the Tacoma, the bestselling midsize in the U.S. Priced $2,000 less than the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon, the Tacoma gets two more miles per gallon (on the highway).In many ways, Mahindra's decision to go into the truck business seems insane. Indian cars are renowned for their low price, not their strength or reliability. But Mahindra's truck -- expected to go on sale here this year -- runs on more efficient diesel, and the automaker predicts it will get 30 miles to the gallon. Admittedly, diesel-fueled cars tend to be pokey; then again, professional truckers with full rigs tend to avoid jackrabbit starts.Mahindra has also announced plans to release a diesel hybrid, the Appalachian, by 2010, apparently sidestepping import tariffs by assembling the trucks in Ohio.
Recognizing the prejudices of American consumers, Mahindra has hired Michigan-based supplier Lear Corp. (LEA) to create an interior design catering to our passion for large spaces and sumptuous textures. (Yes, leather seats will be available.) But ultimately, the biggest question is performance. Diesel could give Mahindra's trucks tremendous hauling power; the carmaker says its trucks can haul more than a standard V-6.Of course, among Americans less attached to huge vehicles, India's cars are already famous. Tata's budget-conscious Nano, hailed as the crowd-pleasing successor to the Volkswagen Beetle, runs just $2,000: far cheaper than anything on the market in the U.S. And at just 1,400 pounds, the super-mini runs off a 2-cylinder engine. You probably won't see it in the drag-race circuit, or in NASCAR, but as DailyFinance's Tom Barlow notes, those specs give Tata plenty of room to add the kinds of amenities American consumers consider standard -- and the kinds of safety measures that our laws demand.
The future of Manufacturing In the USA
Green Energy Company Seeks to Bring Thousands of Jobs to Indiana
InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report
A Washington, D.C.-based renewable energy company says it has developed a green power energy supply system and is considering Indiana for the initiative's manufacturing headquarters. D'Arcinoff Group says it is talking with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation about seven locations throughout the state with the potential to create 20,000 jobs.
Source: Inside INdiana Business
Continued Below...
The D'Arcinoff Group, Inc. (“DG”) and its partners have developed an integrated, green energy supply system that delivers large-scale power generation, distribution and storage. By maximizing efficiencies through innovative manufacturing design of wind turbines and proprietary slurry technology to transport hydrogen in conventional oil tankers from wind farms to industrial end-user destinations.
The revolutionary DG Energy System introduces a cost effective solution to providing clean fuel for electric generation and the aviation industry. Once fully implemented, the DG Energy System is expected to directly employ over 100,000 people manufacturing, operating and servicing its wind turbines, electrolysis units and other related equipment at approximately 25 different major facilities in the U.S. and Europe.
As the first link in DG’s integrated energy system, Eco-Dawn, Inc. (“EDI”) will mass produce a unique wind turbine designed to generate 1.5MW of rated output (representation at right).Commercial production of the turbine’s unique blade configuration and gear can be done by EDI through adapting technologies commonly used in the automotive industry. The availabilityof idled automotive plants allows for major cost efficiencies in establishing manufacturing sites and retraining existing skilled labor. This combination of resources overcomes two currentproblems associated with the more common 3-blade turbine design, massive single piece blades and difficult to manufacture ground gear assemblies. Dr. Kenneth Visser of the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Clarkson University in New York says, “The EDI wind turbine is a unique approach to industrial scale wind turbine design utilizing a twin rotor, aerodynamically effective concept that enables mass production of all the components”.
EDI will also mass produce a solid oxide membrane electrolyzer developed by scientists at Boston University for magnesium production and hydrogen electrolysis units based on technology from GE or Statoilhydro.
Specializing in wind farm and fuel operations Transportable Power, Inc. (“TPI”) is responsible for the power generation and fuel system components of the energy system. TPI intends to locate wind farms in remote, sparsely populated areas with favorable high-wind conditions. TPI’s Power Generation System utilizes the more densely deployable EDI wind turbine and other equipment to be manufactured in the U.S. by GE, Textron and others. Energy from the wind farms is deposited (i.e., charged) into reusable slurry that works like a rechargeable battery for large-scale hydrogen storage and transportation. The system will use the proprietary, easily pumped, slurry to safely transport hydrogen for use as fuel inelectric power generation at facilities in or near urban areas or to store energy for use as fuel for large ships.
Additionally, TPI is in discussions with Rentech, Inc. to license their proprietary Fischer Tropsch process and catalyst system. TPI expects to integrate its energy infrastructure with Rentech’s technology to manufacture synthetic jet fuel that will contain approximately 60% lower carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel. The synthetic fuel derived from Rentech’s Fischer Tropsch process is ideal for aviation industry applications.Deployment of the remote equipment will be facilitated by specialized equipment designed and to be built by U.S. and European manufacturers. “The difficulties of deploying wind turbine components in remote locations becomes more practical using the integrated deployment and support equipment designed for TPI”, said David McMillan President of STX Canada, part of STX Europe.The final part of the system is an electric generation program that will utilize energy (hydrogen) stored in the slurry to provide clean fuel for gas turbine driven electric generators during peak-period commercial electric power production in urban areas.
“The synergistic low and stable cost fuel systems developedby TPI very effectively address some of the largest emitters of CO2 which are ships burning IFO380 and power plants burning coal while providing the U.S. aviation industry comparatively clean fuel in large quantities without requiring engine modification”, said Mr. Michael Horner, Managing Director of DG and a former technology professional at GE Aircraft Engines & GE Power Systems.
The entire five phase Energy Program will support TPI peak load power stations serving the EU in excess of 33,750 MW with clean, zero emissions fuel. This is the equivalent to the power output of 15Hoover Dams or the burning of approximately 72,270,000 tons of coal per year. The program will also support jet fuel production in excess of five billion gallons per year, equivalent to the approximate current jet fuel needs of the U.S. military.
The sale of electricity through power purchase agreements (“PPAs”), placed by Ernst & Young’s Energy & Environmental Infrastructure Advisory London Team, to major European power companies and the sale of TPI’s synthetic jet fuel in the U.S. will represent the source of TPI’s projected revenue. “By utilizing innovative but practical steps in an integrated energy system TPI is able to directly access reliable revenue”, said Mark Williamson, Assistant Director of Ernst & Young’s Energy & EnvironmentalInfrastructure Advisory Team”.
Equity for the Program is fully subscribed. Debt financing for TPI’s equipment to be manufactured by EDI and other U.S. suppliers is planned to be through loans or loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank of the United States or other sources.In cooperation with State economic development agencies, EDI is considering the operation of manufacturing facilities at the following locations, subject to final suitability appraisal and leaseavailability. EDI anticipates that approximate employment distribution among the States by EDI will beas follows:
InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report
A Washington, D.C.-based renewable energy company says it has developed a green power energy supply system and is considering Indiana for the initiative's manufacturing headquarters. D'Arcinoff Group says it is talking with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation about seven locations throughout the state with the potential to create 20,000 jobs.
Source: Inside INdiana Business
Continued Below...
The D'Arcinoff Group, Inc. (“DG”) and its partners have developed an integrated, green energy supply system that delivers large-scale power generation, distribution and storage. By maximizing efficiencies through innovative manufacturing design of wind turbines and proprietary slurry technology to transport hydrogen in conventional oil tankers from wind farms to industrial end-user destinations.
The revolutionary DG Energy System introduces a cost effective solution to providing clean fuel for electric generation and the aviation industry. Once fully implemented, the DG Energy System is expected to directly employ over 100,000 people manufacturing, operating and servicing its wind turbines, electrolysis units and other related equipment at approximately 25 different major facilities in the U.S. and Europe.
As the first link in DG’s integrated energy system, Eco-Dawn, Inc. (“EDI”) will mass produce a unique wind turbine designed to generate 1.5MW of rated output (representation at right).Commercial production of the turbine’s unique blade configuration and gear can be done by EDI through adapting technologies commonly used in the automotive industry. The availabilityof idled automotive plants allows for major cost efficiencies in establishing manufacturing sites and retraining existing skilled labor. This combination of resources overcomes two currentproblems associated with the more common 3-blade turbine design, massive single piece blades and difficult to manufacture ground gear assemblies. Dr. Kenneth Visser of the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Clarkson University in New York says, “The EDI wind turbine is a unique approach to industrial scale wind turbine design utilizing a twin rotor, aerodynamically effective concept that enables mass production of all the components”.
EDI will also mass produce a solid oxide membrane electrolyzer developed by scientists at Boston University for magnesium production and hydrogen electrolysis units based on technology from GE or Statoilhydro.
Specializing in wind farm and fuel operations Transportable Power, Inc. (“TPI”) is responsible for the power generation and fuel system components of the energy system. TPI intends to locate wind farms in remote, sparsely populated areas with favorable high-wind conditions. TPI’s Power Generation System utilizes the more densely deployable EDI wind turbine and other equipment to be manufactured in the U.S. by GE, Textron and others. Energy from the wind farms is deposited (i.e., charged) into reusable slurry that works like a rechargeable battery for large-scale hydrogen storage and transportation. The system will use the proprietary, easily pumped, slurry to safely transport hydrogen for use as fuel inelectric power generation at facilities in or near urban areas or to store energy for use as fuel for large ships.
Additionally, TPI is in discussions with Rentech, Inc. to license their proprietary Fischer Tropsch process and catalyst system. TPI expects to integrate its energy infrastructure with Rentech’s technology to manufacture synthetic jet fuel that will contain approximately 60% lower carbon emissions than conventional jet fuel. The synthetic fuel derived from Rentech’s Fischer Tropsch process is ideal for aviation industry applications.Deployment of the remote equipment will be facilitated by specialized equipment designed and to be built by U.S. and European manufacturers. “The difficulties of deploying wind turbine components in remote locations becomes more practical using the integrated deployment and support equipment designed for TPI”, said David McMillan President of STX Canada, part of STX Europe.The final part of the system is an electric generation program that will utilize energy (hydrogen) stored in the slurry to provide clean fuel for gas turbine driven electric generators during peak-period commercial electric power production in urban areas.
“The synergistic low and stable cost fuel systems developedby TPI very effectively address some of the largest emitters of CO2 which are ships burning IFO380 and power plants burning coal while providing the U.S. aviation industry comparatively clean fuel in large quantities without requiring engine modification”, said Mr. Michael Horner, Managing Director of DG and a former technology professional at GE Aircraft Engines & GE Power Systems.
The entire five phase Energy Program will support TPI peak load power stations serving the EU in excess of 33,750 MW with clean, zero emissions fuel. This is the equivalent to the power output of 15Hoover Dams or the burning of approximately 72,270,000 tons of coal per year. The program will also support jet fuel production in excess of five billion gallons per year, equivalent to the approximate current jet fuel needs of the U.S. military.
The sale of electricity through power purchase agreements (“PPAs”), placed by Ernst & Young’s Energy & Environmental Infrastructure Advisory London Team, to major European power companies and the sale of TPI’s synthetic jet fuel in the U.S. will represent the source of TPI’s projected revenue. “By utilizing innovative but practical steps in an integrated energy system TPI is able to directly access reliable revenue”, said Mark Williamson, Assistant Director of Ernst & Young’s Energy & EnvironmentalInfrastructure Advisory Team”.
Equity for the Program is fully subscribed. Debt financing for TPI’s equipment to be manufactured by EDI and other U.S. suppliers is planned to be through loans or loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank of the United States or other sources.In cooperation with State economic development agencies, EDI is considering the operation of manufacturing facilities at the following locations, subject to final suitability appraisal and leaseavailability. EDI anticipates that approximate employment distribution among the States by EDI will beas follows:
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
the power of the human will
Homeless Student Heads to Harvard
AOL News
posted: 2 HOURS 44 MINUTES AGO
comments: 216
filed under: Good News
var addthis_pub = "aolnews"; var addthis_options = 'email, myspace, aim, delicious, facebook, google, digg, stumbleupon, twitter, more'; var addthis_exclude = 'print';
PrintShare
Text SizeAAA
switchFont(1,"smallText");
(June 23) -- Peers called Khadijah Williams the "Harvard girl," or "smart girl" who enrolled at their Los Angeles high school just 18 months ago, but she never told them of the struggles behind her success: She was homeless.
Williams, 18, graduated fourth in her high school class with a GPA just under 4.0. It's an amazing feat considering she spent the bulk of her life on the street. She, her mother Chantwuan Williams and younger sister Jeanine Williams have been moving in and out of homeless shelters throughout California for years, the Los Angeles Times reported.Skip over this content
Homeless 'Harvard Girl' Shines
Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times4 photos
Khadijah Williams, center, sports her cap and gown while talking with her mother Chantwaun Williams, left, and her sister Jeanine Williams, 11, at her mother's storage room in Los Angeles. Khadijah, 18, graduated fourth in her class at Jefferson High School.
(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
soKe.flace('news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery', '645', '618');
var uid = new Date().getTime();
var flashProxy = new FlashProxy(uid, 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/modtools/kit_swfpublisher_javascriptflashgateway.swf');
var flashvars = {};
try { flashvars.lcId = uid; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.targetAds = 'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.omniture_tracker = '0'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.adrefresh_wrapper = '1'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.appConfigURL = soKe.fv('http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=639200&pid=639199&uts=1245769371'); } catch (Exc) { };
if (typeof(screen_name) != 'undefined') try { flashvars.userName = screen_name; } catch (Exc) { };
var params = {};
try { params.wmode = 'opaque'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.menu = 'false'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.bgcolor = '#f9f9f9'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.quality = 'best'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.allowScriptAccess = 'always'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.allowFullScreen = 'true'; } catch (Exc) { };
var attributes = {};
try { attributes.id = 'outlet'; } catch (Exc) { };
top.exd_space.refresher.ads2Refresh(new Array(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',
new Array('93301162','300','250','1','I','1')
));
top.exd_space.refresher.iFrm2Refresh(new Array(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',
new Array('Placement_ID', '1424748'),
new Array('Domain_ID', '1380767')
));
top.exd_space.refresher.mmx('news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/channels/ke_blank.html', '');
swfobject.embedSWF('http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf', 'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery-swf', '645', '618', '9.0.115', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/swfobject/expressinstall.swf', flashvars, params, attributes);
top.exd_space.refresher.launcher(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',{
dynamicSlide:['/ajax/photogallery/gatphotoKE.jsp?id=24729&feedtype=0&index=1'],
size:['456t'],
photoNumber:['0'],
title:['Sample GNN Gallery Template'],
numimages:['4'],
baseImageURL:['http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/'],
imageurl:['http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/2/620614/1245714688758.JPEG'],
credit:['Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times'],
source:['Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times'],
caption:['Sample gallery with for the new GNN News Channel'],
dims:['http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/PGMC/5/408/269/90/'],
showDisclaimerText:[''],
disclaimerText:[''],
CSS_Title:['#00a0d0'],
CSS_Caption:['#333333'],
CSS_Disclaimer:['#565656'],
CSS_Container:[''],
CSS_Border:[''],
CSS_PhotoWell:['#ededed'],
CSS_photoHolder:[''],
CSS_Buttons:['#00a0d0'],
CSS_BtnOver:['#8a8a8a'],
CSS_Scroll:[''],
topMargin:['0,0,408,269,408,269,0,0']
}
);
Khadijah recognized her gift for learning as early as age 9, when she placed in the 99th percentile on state exams. She was soon designated a gifted student.
Her elementary educational path became rocky shortly thereafter because of constant uprooting stemming from her mother's money woes. She failed to complete the fourth, fifth and eighth grades; skipped the sixth and split seventh between Los Angeles and San Diego. In total, she attended 12 schools over 12 years.
Khadijah's intelligence extends beyond the classroom. Her years spent surviving pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers taught her how to avoid bad habits and seek mentors, counselors and programs to help her reach her goals.
James and Patricia London became involved with Khadijah through one of those initiatives, South Central Scholars. After her mother and sister vanished from the homeless shelter where they were staying, the Londons opened their hilltop home to a lonely Khadijah for the remainder of her 12th grade year.
James, an orthopedic surgeon, and Patricia, a nurse, helped Khadijah with the essays for her college applications, according to the Los Angeles Times. They also taught her valuable life skills like money management, table manners and grooming.
Her Harvard recruiter, Julie Hilden, said she was impressed with her scholastic performance and knew she was a top candidate. The challenge for the Ivy League school is to create a support network of faculty, counselors and a host family that will all help foster her growth.
"I strongly recommended her," Hilden told the newspaper. "I told them, 'If you don't take her, you might be missing out on the next Michelle Obama. Don't make this mistake.' "
After only seeing her mother sporadically during the last six months before her high school graduation, Khadijah found her and her sister at a storage facility in South Central L.A. where they last stored their belongings.
The "Harvard girl" modeled her hunter green graduation cap and gown and practiced switching the tassel for her fractured family.
"Look at you," her mother said. "You're really going to Harvard, huh?"
"Yeah," she said, pausing. "I'm going to Harvard."
AOL News
posted: 2 HOURS 44 MINUTES AGO
comments: 216
filed under: Good News
var addthis_pub = "aolnews"; var addthis_options = 'email, myspace, aim, delicious, facebook, google, digg, stumbleupon, twitter, more'; var addthis_exclude = 'print';
PrintShare
Text SizeAAA
switchFont(1,"smallText");
(June 23) -- Peers called Khadijah Williams the "Harvard girl," or "smart girl" who enrolled at their Los Angeles high school just 18 months ago, but she never told them of the struggles behind her success: She was homeless.
Williams, 18, graduated fourth in her high school class with a GPA just under 4.0. It's an amazing feat considering she spent the bulk of her life on the street. She, her mother Chantwuan Williams and younger sister Jeanine Williams have been moving in and out of homeless shelters throughout California for years, the Los Angeles Times reported.Skip over this content
Homeless 'Harvard Girl' Shines
Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times4 photos
Khadijah Williams, center, sports her cap and gown while talking with her mother Chantwaun Williams, left, and her sister Jeanine Williams, 11, at her mother's storage room in Los Angeles. Khadijah, 18, graduated fourth in her class at Jefferson High School.
(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
soKe.flace('news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery', '645', '618');
var uid = new Date().getTime();
var flashProxy = new FlashProxy(uid, 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/modtools/kit_swfpublisher_javascriptflashgateway.swf');
var flashvars = {};
try { flashvars.lcId = uid; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.targetAds = 'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.omniture_tracker = '0'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.adrefresh_wrapper = '1'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { flashvars.appConfigURL = soKe.fv('http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=639200&pid=639199&uts=1245769371'); } catch (Exc) { };
if (typeof(screen_name) != 'undefined') try { flashvars.userName = screen_name; } catch (Exc) { };
var params = {};
try { params.wmode = 'opaque'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.menu = 'false'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.bgcolor = '#f9f9f9'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.quality = 'best'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.allowScriptAccess = 'always'; } catch (Exc) { };
try { params.allowFullScreen = 'true'; } catch (Exc) { };
var attributes = {};
try { attributes.id = 'outlet'; } catch (Exc) { };
top.exd_space.refresher.ads2Refresh(new Array(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',
new Array('93301162','300','250','1','I','1')
));
top.exd_space.refresher.iFrm2Refresh(new Array(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',
new Array('Placement_ID', '1424748'),
new Array('Domain_ID', '1380767')
));
top.exd_space.refresher.mmx('news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/channels/ke_blank.html', '');
swfobject.embedSWF('http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf', 'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery-swf', '645', '618', '9.0.115', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/swfobject/expressinstall.swf', flashvars, params, attributes);
top.exd_space.refresher.launcher(
'news-gnn_homeless_harvard_girl_gallery',{
dynamicSlide:['/ajax/photogallery/gatphotoKE.jsp?id=24729&feedtype=0&index=1'],
size:['456t'],
photoNumber:['0'],
title:['Sample GNN Gallery Template'],
numimages:['4'],
baseImageURL:['http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/'],
imageurl:['http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/2/620614/1245714688758.JPEG'],
credit:['Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times'],
source:['Brian Vander Brug, Los Angeles Times'],
caption:['Sample gallery with for the new GNN News Channel'],
dims:['http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/PGMC/5/408/269/90/'],
showDisclaimerText:[''],
disclaimerText:[''],
CSS_Title:['#00a0d0'],
CSS_Caption:['#333333'],
CSS_Disclaimer:['#565656'],
CSS_Container:[''],
CSS_Border:[''],
CSS_PhotoWell:['#ededed'],
CSS_photoHolder:[''],
CSS_Buttons:['#00a0d0'],
CSS_BtnOver:['#8a8a8a'],
CSS_Scroll:[''],
topMargin:['0,0,408,269,408,269,0,0']
}
);
Khadijah recognized her gift for learning as early as age 9, when she placed in the 99th percentile on state exams. She was soon designated a gifted student.
Her elementary educational path became rocky shortly thereafter because of constant uprooting stemming from her mother's money woes. She failed to complete the fourth, fifth and eighth grades; skipped the sixth and split seventh between Los Angeles and San Diego. In total, she attended 12 schools over 12 years.
Khadijah's intelligence extends beyond the classroom. Her years spent surviving pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers taught her how to avoid bad habits and seek mentors, counselors and programs to help her reach her goals.
James and Patricia London became involved with Khadijah through one of those initiatives, South Central Scholars. After her mother and sister vanished from the homeless shelter where they were staying, the Londons opened their hilltop home to a lonely Khadijah for the remainder of her 12th grade year.
James, an orthopedic surgeon, and Patricia, a nurse, helped Khadijah with the essays for her college applications, according to the Los Angeles Times. They also taught her valuable life skills like money management, table manners and grooming.
Her Harvard recruiter, Julie Hilden, said she was impressed with her scholastic performance and knew she was a top candidate. The challenge for the Ivy League school is to create a support network of faculty, counselors and a host family that will all help foster her growth.
"I strongly recommended her," Hilden told the newspaper. "I told them, 'If you don't take her, you might be missing out on the next Michelle Obama. Don't make this mistake.' "
After only seeing her mother sporadically during the last six months before her high school graduation, Khadijah found her and her sister at a storage facility in South Central L.A. where they last stored their belongings.
The "Harvard girl" modeled her hunter green graduation cap and gown and practiced switching the tassel for her fractured family.
"Look at you," her mother said. "You're really going to Harvard, huh?"
"Yeah," she said, pausing. "I'm going to Harvard."
Honda in Greensburg, IN- the latest news
Boomtown on hold
Recession delaying Honda’s full impact on GreensburgSat. June 20 - 2009
Kathleen McLaughlin
IBJ staff
This small town between Indianapolis and Cincinnati was hardly ailing when it landed the economic development prize of the decade—a new Honda plant. Back in June 2006, Decatur County’s unemployment rate was a healthy 4.2 percent, lower than the state’s as a whole. With Honda’s promise of 2,000 jobs by 2010, a boom seemed just around the corner. Instead, the recession wiped out hundreds of jobs at other factories. Despite Honda’s hiring 1,000 people in 2008, Decatur County’s numbers moved in the wrong direction. Unemployment hit 12.1 percent in April, up from 5 percent a year earlier and above the statewide average 9.9 percent. Yet people in Greensburg still feel fortunate—even optimistic—because Honda built its $550 million plant here. “It’s really kept us stable,” said Steve Freeman, president of Shirk’s International, a truck sales and service company. Freeman, who serves construction and agricultural clients, said he netted a lot of business as Honda’s gigantic factory was being built. Now that Honda produces 300 of its four-door Civic sedans a day, Shirk’s has regular work with the trucking company that hauls cars from factory to market. Honda began full production in October 2008 but is nowhere near capacity. The first shift could produce 400 cars, and Honda had hoped in 2006 to add a second full shift in 2009. That was before U.S. auto sales—even for the fuel-efficient Civic—plunged. Spokesman Bill Todd said Honda has no plans at this point to add a shift before the end of the fiscal year that ends in March 2010. The state and Decatur County put together $42.5 million in tax incentives and spent $44 million on infrastructure to draw Honda—investments government officials say they don’t regret making. ”We’re optimistic that Honda will expand when volume picks back up again,” Commerce Secretary Mitch Roob said. “But as long as Americans are buying 10 million vehicles a year, as opposed to a higher number—I don’t think you will see any of those [automakers] hire significantly new people when sales are down.” A large chunk of Honda’s $23 million in income tax breaks will hinge on the creation of jobs. The rest of the package includes an $18 million property tax abatement over 10 years and a $1.5 million grant for training employees. The company now plans to have 1,246 full-time Indiana employees by the end of 2009, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. At that level, it would qualify for a $1.4 million tax credit. Honda’s first-year tax credit was about $331,000, based on its 1,084 employees at the end of 2008. There is no deadline for Honda to reach 2,000 employees. But to avoid having to repay incentives, the company has to maintain its presence in Greensburg until December 2019. Honda’s impact Before Honda, State Road 421 was completely rural. The nearest landmark to the modern factory is a hilltop orchard. Now, Greensburg has a new $27 million interchange at I-74. New industries are not yet taking up the industrial plots around Honda. One Indianapolis developer, Street Corner Group, built a new Hampton Inn & Suites just south of the interchange. The 113-room hotel has suffered from a lack of corporate travel since opening last July, General Manager Sandi Robeson said. She said the hotel relies on Honda’s visiting engineers and vendors for much of its business. “They’re probably our biggest client,” she said. Honda attracted three suppliers to southeast Indiana, but one, auto glass maker Belletech, is having second thoughts. The Ohio-based company had agreed to build a plant employing 100 people in Versailles, near Cincinnati, but halted construction in January. “We’d love to start this fall. However, it all depends on how the economy is doing,” Vice President Mark McIntyre said. Belletech’s decision would not surprise any of the Indiana manufacturers that have been shedding workers by the hundreds. Greensburg’s losses since 2007 easily make a wash of the 1,000 jobs created by Honda. Delta Faucet, formerly one of the city’s largest employers, began whittling down its local work force in early 2007 as sales slowed along with the housing market. This past May, the company announced that it would consolidate operations in Jackson, Tenn. That will leave about 200 jobs in Greensburg, down from about 800 in 2007. Radiator maker Valeo, a major Chrysler supplier, has reduced its Greensburg work force from about 1,000 in the fall of 2007 to about 600. Some of those current employees are laid off temporarily. One relative bright spot is Greensburg-based Gecom, a door-latch maker that has a long-standing relationship with Honda and still employs about 1,100 people locally. The Greensburg operation has benefited as Gecom shut its research-and-development office in Detroit and closed a plant in Kentucky. Because of the consolidation, human resources manager Debora Ybarra said Gecom is recalling some of its 200 laid-off Greensburg personnel. Long-term outlook Though its impact may be muted now, Honda still could breathe life into the region over the long term. Retired Indiana University economist Morton Marcus said he believes sales of hybrid and electric vehicles will usher in a new era of auto manufacturing, and many of the suppliers hoping to capitalize will want to locate in southeastern Indiana to be near Honda. Honda can make multiple models on its Greensburg lines and already produces a small number of natural gas-powered Civics. “Everyone who’s thinking about expansion is thinking about the Greensburg area because of Honda,” Marcus said. But for now, market conditions in the auto industry remain dismal. Edmunds.com predicts U.S. auto sales will reach 10 million this year only if things go well. It probably will be another two years before sales reach a more comfortable 14 million, analyst Jessica Caldwell said. Honda initially benefited from the gas-price spike that began taking its toll on other auto makers last spring and summer. Civic sales last May totaled 53,299. This May, they reached only 20,723, a 60-percent decline. The auto industry’s woes have spurred civic leaders to contemplate diversifying the area’s economy. Officials are evaluating opportunities in such fields as renewable energy, food processing and logistics.
“Almost everything we have is auto-related,” said Vicki Kellerman, executive director of the Greensburg/Decatur County Economic Development Corp. “Even a lot of our small-job shops depend on the automotive industry.” But local businesspeople still have high hopes for Honda. Freeman, the truck dealer, said he knew the company’s arrival would not immediately transform the city of 11,000.
Three years ago, he was part of a contingent of local officials who took a bus trip to Marysville, Ohio, where Honda opened a car plant in 1982, to learn what they could expect. “Nothing happens quickly,” said Freeman, former president of the Greensburg/ Decatur County Chamber of Commerce. “They told us, there’s going to be development, but it’s not immediate.” In fact, Freeman observed that Marysville itself isn’t much changed, in part because many of Honda’s employees live near Columbus, Ohio, 30 miles away. The same story appears to be unfolding in Greensburg. Honda won’t say what portion of its employees live in Decatur County. Freeman said the company’s white-collar employees have settled in Shelbyville or Indianapolis. That’s a typical pattern for factory expansions, Marcus said. The reason is that potential home buyers usually are working couples. They’ll settle where both spouses can find a job. Marcus said Greensburg may be like Kokomo. When Delphi and Chrysler expanded, professionals settled in Hamilton County. “The housing market changes very slowly,” he said. •
Recession delaying Honda’s full impact on GreensburgSat. June 20 - 2009
Kathleen McLaughlin
IBJ staff
This small town between Indianapolis and Cincinnati was hardly ailing when it landed the economic development prize of the decade—a new Honda plant. Back in June 2006, Decatur County’s unemployment rate was a healthy 4.2 percent, lower than the state’s as a whole. With Honda’s promise of 2,000 jobs by 2010, a boom seemed just around the corner. Instead, the recession wiped out hundreds of jobs at other factories. Despite Honda’s hiring 1,000 people in 2008, Decatur County’s numbers moved in the wrong direction. Unemployment hit 12.1 percent in April, up from 5 percent a year earlier and above the statewide average 9.9 percent. Yet people in Greensburg still feel fortunate—even optimistic—because Honda built its $550 million plant here. “It’s really kept us stable,” said Steve Freeman, president of Shirk’s International, a truck sales and service company. Freeman, who serves construction and agricultural clients, said he netted a lot of business as Honda’s gigantic factory was being built. Now that Honda produces 300 of its four-door Civic sedans a day, Shirk’s has regular work with the trucking company that hauls cars from factory to market. Honda began full production in October 2008 but is nowhere near capacity. The first shift could produce 400 cars, and Honda had hoped in 2006 to add a second full shift in 2009. That was before U.S. auto sales—even for the fuel-efficient Civic—plunged. Spokesman Bill Todd said Honda has no plans at this point to add a shift before the end of the fiscal year that ends in March 2010. The state and Decatur County put together $42.5 million in tax incentives and spent $44 million on infrastructure to draw Honda—investments government officials say they don’t regret making. ”We’re optimistic that Honda will expand when volume picks back up again,” Commerce Secretary Mitch Roob said. “But as long as Americans are buying 10 million vehicles a year, as opposed to a higher number—I don’t think you will see any of those [automakers] hire significantly new people when sales are down.” A large chunk of Honda’s $23 million in income tax breaks will hinge on the creation of jobs. The rest of the package includes an $18 million property tax abatement over 10 years and a $1.5 million grant for training employees. The company now plans to have 1,246 full-time Indiana employees by the end of 2009, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. At that level, it would qualify for a $1.4 million tax credit. Honda’s first-year tax credit was about $331,000, based on its 1,084 employees at the end of 2008. There is no deadline for Honda to reach 2,000 employees. But to avoid having to repay incentives, the company has to maintain its presence in Greensburg until December 2019. Honda’s impact Before Honda, State Road 421 was completely rural. The nearest landmark to the modern factory is a hilltop orchard. Now, Greensburg has a new $27 million interchange at I-74. New industries are not yet taking up the industrial plots around Honda. One Indianapolis developer, Street Corner Group, built a new Hampton Inn & Suites just south of the interchange. The 113-room hotel has suffered from a lack of corporate travel since opening last July, General Manager Sandi Robeson said. She said the hotel relies on Honda’s visiting engineers and vendors for much of its business. “They’re probably our biggest client,” she said. Honda attracted three suppliers to southeast Indiana, but one, auto glass maker Belletech, is having second thoughts. The Ohio-based company had agreed to build a plant employing 100 people in Versailles, near Cincinnati, but halted construction in January. “We’d love to start this fall. However, it all depends on how the economy is doing,” Vice President Mark McIntyre said. Belletech’s decision would not surprise any of the Indiana manufacturers that have been shedding workers by the hundreds. Greensburg’s losses since 2007 easily make a wash of the 1,000 jobs created by Honda. Delta Faucet, formerly one of the city’s largest employers, began whittling down its local work force in early 2007 as sales slowed along with the housing market. This past May, the company announced that it would consolidate operations in Jackson, Tenn. That will leave about 200 jobs in Greensburg, down from about 800 in 2007. Radiator maker Valeo, a major Chrysler supplier, has reduced its Greensburg work force from about 1,000 in the fall of 2007 to about 600. Some of those current employees are laid off temporarily. One relative bright spot is Greensburg-based Gecom, a door-latch maker that has a long-standing relationship with Honda and still employs about 1,100 people locally. The Greensburg operation has benefited as Gecom shut its research-and-development office in Detroit and closed a plant in Kentucky. Because of the consolidation, human resources manager Debora Ybarra said Gecom is recalling some of its 200 laid-off Greensburg personnel. Long-term outlook Though its impact may be muted now, Honda still could breathe life into the region over the long term. Retired Indiana University economist Morton Marcus said he believes sales of hybrid and electric vehicles will usher in a new era of auto manufacturing, and many of the suppliers hoping to capitalize will want to locate in southeastern Indiana to be near Honda. Honda can make multiple models on its Greensburg lines and already produces a small number of natural gas-powered Civics. “Everyone who’s thinking about expansion is thinking about the Greensburg area because of Honda,” Marcus said. But for now, market conditions in the auto industry remain dismal. Edmunds.com predicts U.S. auto sales will reach 10 million this year only if things go well. It probably will be another two years before sales reach a more comfortable 14 million, analyst Jessica Caldwell said. Honda initially benefited from the gas-price spike that began taking its toll on other auto makers last spring and summer. Civic sales last May totaled 53,299. This May, they reached only 20,723, a 60-percent decline. The auto industry’s woes have spurred civic leaders to contemplate diversifying the area’s economy. Officials are evaluating opportunities in such fields as renewable energy, food processing and logistics.
“Almost everything we have is auto-related,” said Vicki Kellerman, executive director of the Greensburg/Decatur County Economic Development Corp. “Even a lot of our small-job shops depend on the automotive industry.” But local businesspeople still have high hopes for Honda. Freeman, the truck dealer, said he knew the company’s arrival would not immediately transform the city of 11,000.
Three years ago, he was part of a contingent of local officials who took a bus trip to Marysville, Ohio, where Honda opened a car plant in 1982, to learn what they could expect. “Nothing happens quickly,” said Freeman, former president of the Greensburg/ Decatur County Chamber of Commerce. “They told us, there’s going to be development, but it’s not immediate.” In fact, Freeman observed that Marysville itself isn’t much changed, in part because many of Honda’s employees live near Columbus, Ohio, 30 miles away. The same story appears to be unfolding in Greensburg. Honda won’t say what portion of its employees live in Decatur County. Freeman said the company’s white-collar employees have settled in Shelbyville or Indianapolis. That’s a typical pattern for factory expansions, Marcus said. The reason is that potential home buyers usually are working couples. They’ll settle where both spouses can find a job. Marcus said Greensburg may be like Kokomo. When Delphi and Chrysler expanded, professionals settled in Hamilton County. “The housing market changes very slowly,” he said. •
Monday, June 22, 2009
Can you afford a higher electric bill?
Well from what I have read on this topic, our congressmen have found another way to tax us and not accomplish anything in the process as usual. Even though the taxation on the energy for fossil fuels looks like it has an opjective, it evedently does not. To add insult to injury states like Texas, California, Arizona, etc that have a high amount of wind energy generation and solar energy generation will get taxed much less that us midwestern states even though they have much more population.
Is it fair to add more taxes to us and penalize us for not being in a high wind corridor or high sunlight accessibility area? Evidently they did'nt think of that.
Seeing as how out states up here are much more impacted by the automotive industry these days and are suffering due to the Recession why should we have to bear a larger chunk of the share?
Isn't it about time that we get legislation from our elected congressmen that makes sense and has some purpose and that we get what we are paying for from them versus a quick vote and something like this tax that they evidently did not truly look into before they wrote it. Guess it was a sunny day and they all had tee times on this day.
If you want to know more go to www.fairpowernow.com and check it out.
Gee, I wonder if I can get elected to congress? Looks like an easy job.
Is it fair to add more taxes to us and penalize us for not being in a high wind corridor or high sunlight accessibility area? Evidently they did'nt think of that.
Seeing as how out states up here are much more impacted by the automotive industry these days and are suffering due to the Recession why should we have to bear a larger chunk of the share?
Isn't it about time that we get legislation from our elected congressmen that makes sense and has some purpose and that we get what we are paying for from them versus a quick vote and something like this tax that they evidently did not truly look into before they wrote it. Guess it was a sunny day and they all had tee times on this day.
If you want to know more go to www.fairpowernow.com and check it out.
Gee, I wonder if I can get elected to congress? Looks like an easy job.
Friday, June 19, 2009
10 signs we are in a prolonged recession
10 Quirky Economic Indicators
by Candice Lee JonesFriday, June 12, 2009provided by
These off beat barometers of the economy can give you much needed guidance for your portfolio or simply a good laugh.
Everyone is scrambling to get their fingers on the pulse of the economy. When will it turn around? Have we seen the worst? The answers may not be as elusive as you might think.
I
n the past, you might have relied on the old Hemline Theory to determine which way the market was heading: As hemlines rose, so did stock prices. Think model Twiggy in her super-short mod dresses of the '60s, followed by falling hemlines in the '70s as the economy weakened.
More from Kiplinger.com: • Track Six Traditional Barometers • 7 Lessons From the Meltdown • Test Your Dow Know-How
But these days you'll find all sorts of clues in everyday life to help determine where the economy really stands. Dry cleaners, for instance, may seem a bit more cluttered these days, and it's true -- many people are stalling an extra week before shelling out to pick up their clothes. Eyeliner sales are surging these days, and a cutback in eye makeup may signal a resurgent economy in which people are spending on costlier personal luxuries.
1. Packed Theaters
During the last seven recession years, box office sales have increased in five of them. The new Star Trek movie pulled in more than $200 million in the month of May, just one example of how well cinemas are faring these days. According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the number of movie tickets sold in the first quarter of 2009 increased more than 9% from last year.
Better films? Hot new actors? People continue to fill theater seats, NATO says, because movies are one of the least expensive entertainment options out of the house. The average ticket price in 2008 was $7.18. So when the lines get shorter, go buy some stock.
More from Yahoo! Finance: • Savings Accounts Beckon Investors With Better Rates • True or False: U.S. Economic Stats Lie • 7 Things You're Paying More Money For
Visit the Banking & Budgeting Center
2. Green Thumbs
The National Gardening Association finds that the number of households who will grow their own fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs this year is 19% higher than in 2008.
That makes 43 million gardeners in the United States this year. It's fun and relaxing, no doubt, but 54% of the respondents say the prospect of saving money on groceries motivates them to till the soil.
3. First Dates
Misery loves company, eh? Online dating service Match.com notices a pattern in its site activity during tough times. The fourth quarter of 2008 was their busiest in seven years (the site has been around since 1995). Match had a similar surge in late 2001, right after 9/11.
The company believes people are looking for someone with whom to try to forget about money troubles -- or share the pain. When the Dow Jones industrial average dropped to a five-year low last November, Match.com had its second busiest weekend of the year.
4. Romance Novels
The economy has broken your heart and stomped it to pieces and now you need to put it back together. At least that's what Harlequin, the giant romance novel publisher, says is happening. In 2008, Harlequin's sales were up 32% from the year before. In 2009, its sales are still rising.
The publisher credits this its uplifting stories that offer a haven, and to the low prices of the books relative to other entertainment. This theory has stood the test of time. Harlequin saw a similar sales increase during the recession of the early 90's. So if these stories start piling up unwanted on the discount table at the bookstore, alongside all those mis-timed guides to real estate riches, better news is on the way.
5. Droopy Eyes I
America is all tuckered out. A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that nearly one-third of Americans lost sleep because they were worried about their finances. The 2009 Sleep in America Poll also found that 10% of those people tossed and turned specifically worrying about their jobs -- roughly the same percentage of Americans who are out of work.
6. Droopy Eyes II
Americans spent $10.3 billion in 2008 to endure 1.7 million cosmetic surgeries, which is 9% less than in 2007. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cites the bad economy.
Without as much extra cash -- and facing depleted retirement funds and much less home equity -- fewer people can spend freely on plastic surgery. The number of liposuction procedures was down 19% in 2008 and tummy tucks down 18%. If you can get an appointment with a top surgeon without much of a wait, that's a sour sign for the economy. But, then again, maybe you can strike a deal.
7. Goopy Eyes
You've got that recession look in your eye. Total eye makeup sales at supermarkets and drugstores were up 8.5% in the one-year period that ended on March 22, compared to the previous year. In that time period, more than $260 million was spent on eye makeup -- in particular, eye liner was up 9% and mascara almost 13%.
The leading lipstick indicator -- the idea that lipstick sales rise in economic downturn as consumers settle for inexpensive luxuries -- is not holding up. Lipstick sales are down 11%. But eye make-up has replaced lipstick as the indicator, so the principle is the same.
8. Gators
What do 100,000 alligators have to do with the economy? The gators are all residents at Savoie's Alligator Farm, one of the largest alligator farms in Louisiana. The farm, which sells gator skin hides to tanners who in turn sell them to luxury designers like Louis Vuitton, has not sold a single hide since November, according to Savoie's.
This business is awful because people are not buying alligator skin handbags and luggage. The makers of designer labels therefore don't need to buy hides. This is tough on the gator farmers who are losing money fast and trying to keep the hides they already have in stock from spoiling. But it's good news for alligators everywhere -- if they only knew.
9. Dry Cleaning
The International Drycleaning and Laundry Institute is hearing gripes from many of its 5,000 members. The poor economy has customers are visiting less frequently and leaving clothes for longer. Weekly customers visit every two weeks, monthly customers visit bi-monthly, and some people delay their pickups even longer to avoid the bill. This has been a staple indicator of hard times before.
10. Mosquito Bites
We know the real estate bust has done a number on the economy, but did you know it can actually make you itch? In Maricopa County, Ariz., enormous numbers of foreclosed or abandoned homes have vacant swimming pools and unattended ponds. The stagnant waters -- known as green pools -- are a hotbed for mosquito breeding.
Maricopa County Environmental Services Department's Johnny Diloné says crews have treated more than 4,000 green pools already in 2009. During the same period in 2007, before metropolitan Phoenix's housing market collapsed, they had treated only 2,500. While most of the "green pools" are on vacant properties, some do belong to residents who just cannot afford to maintain their pools and ponds.
Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
by Candice Lee JonesFriday, June 12, 2009provided by
These off beat barometers of the economy can give you much needed guidance for your portfolio or simply a good laugh.
Everyone is scrambling to get their fingers on the pulse of the economy. When will it turn around? Have we seen the worst? The answers may not be as elusive as you might think.
I
n the past, you might have relied on the old Hemline Theory to determine which way the market was heading: As hemlines rose, so did stock prices. Think model Twiggy in her super-short mod dresses of the '60s, followed by falling hemlines in the '70s as the economy weakened.
More from Kiplinger.com: • Track Six Traditional Barometers • 7 Lessons From the Meltdown • Test Your Dow Know-How
But these days you'll find all sorts of clues in everyday life to help determine where the economy really stands. Dry cleaners, for instance, may seem a bit more cluttered these days, and it's true -- many people are stalling an extra week before shelling out to pick up their clothes. Eyeliner sales are surging these days, and a cutback in eye makeup may signal a resurgent economy in which people are spending on costlier personal luxuries.
1. Packed Theaters
During the last seven recession years, box office sales have increased in five of them. The new Star Trek movie pulled in more than $200 million in the month of May, just one example of how well cinemas are faring these days. According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the number of movie tickets sold in the first quarter of 2009 increased more than 9% from last year.
Better films? Hot new actors? People continue to fill theater seats, NATO says, because movies are one of the least expensive entertainment options out of the house. The average ticket price in 2008 was $7.18. So when the lines get shorter, go buy some stock.
More from Yahoo! Finance: • Savings Accounts Beckon Investors With Better Rates • True or False: U.S. Economic Stats Lie • 7 Things You're Paying More Money For
Visit the Banking & Budgeting Center
2. Green Thumbs
The National Gardening Association finds that the number of households who will grow their own fruits, berries, vegetables and herbs this year is 19% higher than in 2008.
That makes 43 million gardeners in the United States this year. It's fun and relaxing, no doubt, but 54% of the respondents say the prospect of saving money on groceries motivates them to till the soil.
3. First Dates
Misery loves company, eh? Online dating service Match.com notices a pattern in its site activity during tough times. The fourth quarter of 2008 was their busiest in seven years (the site has been around since 1995). Match had a similar surge in late 2001, right after 9/11.
The company believes people are looking for someone with whom to try to forget about money troubles -- or share the pain. When the Dow Jones industrial average dropped to a five-year low last November, Match.com had its second busiest weekend of the year.
4. Romance Novels
The economy has broken your heart and stomped it to pieces and now you need to put it back together. At least that's what Harlequin, the giant romance novel publisher, says is happening. In 2008, Harlequin's sales were up 32% from the year before. In 2009, its sales are still rising.
The publisher credits this its uplifting stories that offer a haven, and to the low prices of the books relative to other entertainment. This theory has stood the test of time. Harlequin saw a similar sales increase during the recession of the early 90's. So if these stories start piling up unwanted on the discount table at the bookstore, alongside all those mis-timed guides to real estate riches, better news is on the way.
5. Droopy Eyes I
America is all tuckered out. A poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that nearly one-third of Americans lost sleep because they were worried about their finances. The 2009 Sleep in America Poll also found that 10% of those people tossed and turned specifically worrying about their jobs -- roughly the same percentage of Americans who are out of work.
6. Droopy Eyes II
Americans spent $10.3 billion in 2008 to endure 1.7 million cosmetic surgeries, which is 9% less than in 2007. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons cites the bad economy.
Without as much extra cash -- and facing depleted retirement funds and much less home equity -- fewer people can spend freely on plastic surgery. The number of liposuction procedures was down 19% in 2008 and tummy tucks down 18%. If you can get an appointment with a top surgeon without much of a wait, that's a sour sign for the economy. But, then again, maybe you can strike a deal.
7. Goopy Eyes
You've got that recession look in your eye. Total eye makeup sales at supermarkets and drugstores were up 8.5% in the one-year period that ended on March 22, compared to the previous year. In that time period, more than $260 million was spent on eye makeup -- in particular, eye liner was up 9% and mascara almost 13%.
The leading lipstick indicator -- the idea that lipstick sales rise in economic downturn as consumers settle for inexpensive luxuries -- is not holding up. Lipstick sales are down 11%. But eye make-up has replaced lipstick as the indicator, so the principle is the same.
8. Gators
What do 100,000 alligators have to do with the economy? The gators are all residents at Savoie's Alligator Farm, one of the largest alligator farms in Louisiana. The farm, which sells gator skin hides to tanners who in turn sell them to luxury designers like Louis Vuitton, has not sold a single hide since November, according to Savoie's.
This business is awful because people are not buying alligator skin handbags and luggage. The makers of designer labels therefore don't need to buy hides. This is tough on the gator farmers who are losing money fast and trying to keep the hides they already have in stock from spoiling. But it's good news for alligators everywhere -- if they only knew.
9. Dry Cleaning
The International Drycleaning and Laundry Institute is hearing gripes from many of its 5,000 members. The poor economy has customers are visiting less frequently and leaving clothes for longer. Weekly customers visit every two weeks, monthly customers visit bi-monthly, and some people delay their pickups even longer to avoid the bill. This has been a staple indicator of hard times before.
10. Mosquito Bites
We know the real estate bust has done a number on the economy, but did you know it can actually make you itch? In Maricopa County, Ariz., enormous numbers of foreclosed or abandoned homes have vacant swimming pools and unattended ponds. The stagnant waters -- known as green pools -- are a hotbed for mosquito breeding.
Maricopa County Environmental Services Department's Johnny Diloné says crews have treated more than 4,000 green pools already in 2009. During the same period in 2007, before metropolitan Phoenix's housing market collapsed, they had treated only 2,500. While most of the "green pools" are on vacant properties, some do belong to residents who just cannot afford to maintain their pools and ponds.
Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
jobless rate at 10.6..............and the beats goes on
State jobless rate hits 10.6 percent in MayScott Olson - solson@ibj.comIBJ staffIndiana's unemployment rate in May again topped double digits, after falling slightly the previous month.The state lost more than 15,000 jobs as its seasonally adjusted jobless rate hit 10.6 percent, according to figures released this morning by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. It had dipped to 9.9 percent in April after reaching 10 percent in March.The number of unemployed Hoosiers rose to 336,451 in May from 315,205 in April.The manufacturing sector again helped to drive the job losses. The hard-hit industry shed 3.5 percent of its work force in May and employs nearly 18 percent fewer workers than it did a year earlier. Construction and financial sectors also suffered large losses.
"As expected, extended furloughs and layoffs in the U.S. auto industry greatly affected Indiana's employment picture in May," Work Force Commissioner Teresa Voors said in a written statement. "Indiana may see the ripple effect over the next few months as suppliers, dealerships and other service providers adjust to the new business models of the domestic auto companies."The Indianapolis metro area's non-seasonally adjusted rate increased slightly from a revised 8.2 percent in April to 8.5 percent last month, according to the report. The number of unemployed in the area rose from 72,837 to 76,632, an increase of 3,795.Non-seasonally adjusted figures are most accurately compared with the same month in prior years. Joblessness in the Indianapolis area was 4.6 percent in May 2008.In the Midwest, Michigan again reported the highest jobless rate at 14.1 percent in May. Illinois has the lowest rate among Indiana's neighboring states at 10.1 percent.In Indiana, Howard County had the highest unemployment rate, 19.3 percent. There, Kokomo was hammered by temporary shutdowns of four Chrysler plants due to the automaker's bankruptcy.Hamilton County's rate of 6.6 percent is the third-lowest.
"As expected, extended furloughs and layoffs in the U.S. auto industry greatly affected Indiana's employment picture in May," Work Force Commissioner Teresa Voors said in a written statement. "Indiana may see the ripple effect over the next few months as suppliers, dealerships and other service providers adjust to the new business models of the domestic auto companies."The Indianapolis metro area's non-seasonally adjusted rate increased slightly from a revised 8.2 percent in April to 8.5 percent last month, according to the report. The number of unemployed in the area rose from 72,837 to 76,632, an increase of 3,795.Non-seasonally adjusted figures are most accurately compared with the same month in prior years. Joblessness in the Indianapolis area was 4.6 percent in May 2008.In the Midwest, Michigan again reported the highest jobless rate at 14.1 percent in May. Illinois has the lowest rate among Indiana's neighboring states at 10.1 percent.In Indiana, Howard County had the highest unemployment rate, 19.3 percent. There, Kokomo was hammered by temporary shutdowns of four Chrysler plants due to the automaker's bankruptcy.Hamilton County's rate of 6.6 percent is the third-lowest.
Monday, June 15, 2009
An American Tale-2009 version
Interesting article, note the other businesses that will all be affected with this one closure, Shall we multiply this to give us a larger picture of the next 6 months to 18 months in America
End of Road For 4-Generation Chrysler Dealer
by Sharon Cohen AP
Posted: 2009-06-15 0:0:0
With HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly.
Print Share
Text Size A A A
switchFont(1,"smallText");
The Isaksons
HOBART, Ind. (AP) -- At the end of the 81-year marriage, the Isaksons said goodbye by turning off the lights. The partnership was over.
The Chrysler sign went dark.
It was an unceremonious finale to a four-generation bond between one family and one company, but it was not a surprise. Rob Isakson had known for weeks his dealership was on a Chrysler hit list -- the cuts were part of the troubled automaker's survival strategy.
Still, when the moment arrived, he did not go gently into the night.
"It hurts," he says. "How do you put into words 81 years of your family's blood, sweat and tears? How many times did my father miss some family event ... because the business came first? And all of it is for nothing now."
It has been a wrenching few weeks, beginning with Chrysler's notification in mid-May that the family was losing its franchise. The word came in a form letter. "How insensitive is that?" Isakson asks.
Then came futile efforts -- through calls and e-mails -- to find why they were being dropped, even though they say their sales were better than some dealers that survived.
Last week, a judge ruled for Chrysler: The bankrupt company, having sold most of its assets to Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker, could trim about a quarter of its dealer franchises.
Isakson Motor Sales was among the dealers to go. And thus ended a proud family history.
Their ties to Chrysler go back to 1928 when two Isakson brothers who were farmers invested $5,000 in an exciting new venture: the DeSoto. They opened a showroom, in the heart of what once was booming steel country, at an auspicious-sounding intersection -- Front and Center.
Over nine decades, the names of the cars changed (Imperial, Valiant, Cordoba, Horizon, Duster, Reliant, New Yorker, Road Runner, Challenger, Voyager, PT Cruiser), but the name of the dealership did not. It was the Isaksons. Clarence and Walter. Bill. Rob. Eric and Steve.
Father to son, father to son, selling cars and handing over the keys to one, two, even three generations of customers, making a go of it even in the leanest years.
"How many businesses survive their first five years, or the next five?" Rob Isakson asks, huddled in his office with his 83-year-old father, Bill, and his two sons. "We survived 81 years of ups and downs in this industry. The stock market of '29 and the Depression ... World War II and rationing, the strike years with the steel mills and we survived, the loan guarantee years, which were tough years ... and we survived that, too."
"And now," he pauses, "we're surviving but Chrysler says we're not worth keeping."
"Am I angry?" he asks, then quickly answers. "You're darn right I am."
Recessions are not uncommon. We are accustomed to economic cycles, to booms and busts.
But the current meltdown that has caused so much pain across the country and around the world is also engineering a broad transformation of American life. Businesses that shaped their communities for generations -- banks, newspapers, others -- risk extinction.
GM and Chrysler, once symbols of America's industrial might, filed for bankruptcy. And as part of their get-small strategies, they decided to shrink the number of dealers.
Chrysler released its list first. Hundreds of dealers objected, but a bankruptcy judge approved the automaker's plan to drop 789 U.S. dealerships. (GM eventually expects to shed about 40 percent of its 6,000-dealer network.)
Executives defended their moves as necessary, however painful they might be. Chrysler's president told lawmakers in a recent Senate committee hearing that the poor performance of many dealers costs the company $1.5 billion in lost sales each year. The automaker also said it wanted to bring all three of its brands -- Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge -- under a single roof.
The Isaksons -- who sell only Chryslers and Dodges -- say they can understand cuts. But why punish them? Their sales, they say, have been good (about 205 new cars, 150 used in 2008). They point out they've received high marks from customers.
And as far as being a burden, Rob Isakson says that's ridiculous.
"We buy our own cars, every tool ... every part," he says. "What are we doing that's costing Chrysler money? We're doing nothing. All we're doing is creating more market for them. What's wrong with that?"
What has irked the Isaksons even more is the Obama administration's intervention in the auto industry.
"Starting in Washington and going to Detroit, all the way down, I blame everybody for this," says Eric Isakson, Rob's 32-year-old son. "How can someone tell us when we've done everything that we're supposed to do that we can't keep going on? It's a big slap in the face."
The dealers aren't the only ones who will be taking a hit. The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates the GM and Chrysler dealer closings will wipe out more than 100,000 jobs; the average wage is between $45,000 and $55,000 a year.
Then there's the domino effect.
"How many insurance company salespeople are going to be gone?" Rob Isakson asks. "How many tire stores are going to be closed? How many barber shops, how many restaurants? There's going to be a ripple effect."
Add to that taxes and the gaping holes left by dealers -- many of them family-owned businesses -- who have been mainstays in their communities.
"They're one of the few vestiges of what used to be Main Street America where businesses are locally owned and operated," says John McEleney, chairman of the dealers association. "They're the fabric of the community."
"We're the people the community goes to for support for Little League, for high school athletics, the fund drives for hospitals and colleges," he says. "If GM closes a plant, it's a huge thing. But closing 2,100 dealers is almost like closing 2,100 plants in some of these communities."
Their neighbors find it hard to imagine Hobart without the Isakson dealership. The City Council passed a resolution calling them "anchors of this community," praising their charitable giving and predicting the loss of their franchise -- and a second one in town -- will "cause irreparable harm."
There are people here who still remember Clarence Isakson, who helped found a savings and loan. Others have served with Bill and Rob served on the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary.
The family has donated to food pantries, breast cancer fundraising, the YMCA, the Northwest Indiana Symphony. And the Isaksons have been known to come through in the pinch, too, whether it's cash for July 4 fireworks or a last-minute contribution for the town's Oktoberfest.
"If you've got a problem, you go to Rob and say, 'I need help,'" says Mike Adams, president of the Hobart Chamber of Commerce. "And Rob helps."
The Isaksons have not moved far since they settled here in the late 1800s.
The dealership is just around the corner from the land their Swedish ancestors tilled back then. But just as America traded horses for horseless carriages, the Isaksons, too, embraced the auto.
"When oil is in your blood, it just becomes part of your life," says Rob Isakson.
His grandfather, Clarence, and great-uncle Walt, both Mr. Fix-it types, started their business as the Depression loomed. Times were tough, but dealerships were sprouting up everywhere.
They peaked at about 51,000 in the late 1920s, compared with fewer than 21,000 today, according to the dealership association. (Hobart, a city of almost 28,000, once had Chrysler, Ford, Chevy and American Motors dealers downtown.)
Bill Isakson, now 83, remembers his boyhood sitting along Highway 6, watching a caravan of new Dusenbergs, Pierces and Auburns arrive in Hobart. It was exciting stuff (though it didn't measure up to the day Admiral Richard Byrd, the explorer, breezed through town).
Bill was a Ford man at first. He drove his Model A to high school, then hopped back in after the last bell rang, making a beeline back to the farm to plant corn and beans, milk the cows and clean the barn.
When World War II ended, he joined his dad, Clarence, at what he still calls "the garage." He replaced his Uncle Walt, who moved on to the steel mills.
This gritty stretch of northwest Indiana was once home to many of the nation's steel giants; the mills belched smoke and fire into night sky and furnished jobs that paid enough to put their blue-collar workers behind the wheel of a big, old-fashioned family car made in the USA.
The Isaksons were more than happy to oblige.
Their business was, in a way, a barometer of labor peace. "If there was a (steel) strike, God help us," says Rob Isakson, a husky man with closely cropped hair and a no-nonsense manner. "If it was more than one company, it would really get tight."
Rob, now 52, signed on in the early 1980s, soon after the federal government gave Chrysler about $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to avoid bankruptcy. His father, Bill, was among the dealers who lobbied for help in Washington.
Even with the automaker's near-death experience and other crises -- the explosion of foreign imports, recessions, $4-a-gallon gas -- the Isaksons never doubted their future.
"We just kept going along, we never struggled. We always did our thing and had customers following," says Bill, who favored green cars -- the color of money, he says, and success.
The Isaksons handicap car years, just like a devoted baseball fan would rate a team's seasons. Take 1990 -- a good year, with the Plymouth Acclaim and the Chrysler LeBaron. But 1979? A terrible year as Chrysler and other U.S. automakers struggled against the increasingly popular, smaller, fuel-efficient foreign cars.
"They were building some ..." Rob pauses.
His father bluntly finishes the sentence: "junk."
Their memory extends to customers, too. Rob can tell you about the professor who likes to drive convertibles along curvy roads or the Army veteran who bought 20 cars in 27 years -- a man, he says, who preferred the open roads to an airplane ever since he returned from World War II.
Almost on cue, James Madison pops up in the showroom to offer a confession and a testimonial.
"The last darn good car Chrysler made," he says, leaning in as if to share a secret, "was when Lee Iacocca was chairman of the board." He smiles.
"But I buy whatever they sell here. I trust these people."
When the word spread about the Isaksons, customers came out to protest.
Two members of the business chamber brought a pie and flowers.
"It was like going to see a neighbor who had just lost a family member," says Adams, the chamber president. "There was mourning going on. We tried to say nice things, but we knew there was probably nothing that would change Chrysler's opinion."
And nothing did.
As the showroom emptied, an 80-year-old former customer who drove up from his new home in Tennessee to see family stopped by to get his Chrysler serviced, just as he had for more than 60 years.
By the time the judge ruled that Chrysler could shrink its franchises, Rob Isakson had whittled down his inventory from nearly $4 million to about $750,000.
Just 11 new cars were left.
But his worries are from over: He still has 22 employees (many who've been with him for decades) and says he's doing everything he can to keep them. And he can't escape that guilty feeling; his blood pressure had shot up 50 points in recent weeks.
"I'm in charge when this is happening so I feel I've been a disappointment," he says. "If you're a coach of a football team ... and your team has a losing record and you don't think you've done anything wrong, you still wonder."
The Isaksons will keep their doors open with a used car business and a service department, and they're already talking about another auto franchise, though they're not in a rush.
But it won't be as Eric Isakson had planned, some day passing on the Chrysler brand to a fifth generation -- his young son and daughter.
The family is now waiting for Chrysler to come take down the car's sign.
Rob Isakson is torn. He still has a soft spot in his heart for Chryslers. "It's like your first love," he says.
But would be buy another? He hedges. "I'll tell you," he says, "when the time comes
End of Road For 4-Generation Chrysler Dealer
by Sharon Cohen AP
Posted: 2009-06-15 0:0:0
With HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly.
Print Share
Text Size A A A
switchFont(1,"smallText");
The Isaksons
HOBART, Ind. (AP) -- At the end of the 81-year marriage, the Isaksons said goodbye by turning off the lights. The partnership was over.
The Chrysler sign went dark.
It was an unceremonious finale to a four-generation bond between one family and one company, but it was not a surprise. Rob Isakson had known for weeks his dealership was on a Chrysler hit list -- the cuts were part of the troubled automaker's survival strategy.
Still, when the moment arrived, he did not go gently into the night.
"It hurts," he says. "How do you put into words 81 years of your family's blood, sweat and tears? How many times did my father miss some family event ... because the business came first? And all of it is for nothing now."
It has been a wrenching few weeks, beginning with Chrysler's notification in mid-May that the family was losing its franchise. The word came in a form letter. "How insensitive is that?" Isakson asks.
Then came futile efforts -- through calls and e-mails -- to find why they were being dropped, even though they say their sales were better than some dealers that survived.
Last week, a judge ruled for Chrysler: The bankrupt company, having sold most of its assets to Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker, could trim about a quarter of its dealer franchises.
Isakson Motor Sales was among the dealers to go. And thus ended a proud family history.
Their ties to Chrysler go back to 1928 when two Isakson brothers who were farmers invested $5,000 in an exciting new venture: the DeSoto. They opened a showroom, in the heart of what once was booming steel country, at an auspicious-sounding intersection -- Front and Center.
Over nine decades, the names of the cars changed (Imperial, Valiant, Cordoba, Horizon, Duster, Reliant, New Yorker, Road Runner, Challenger, Voyager, PT Cruiser), but the name of the dealership did not. It was the Isaksons. Clarence and Walter. Bill. Rob. Eric and Steve.
Father to son, father to son, selling cars and handing over the keys to one, two, even three generations of customers, making a go of it even in the leanest years.
"How many businesses survive their first five years, or the next five?" Rob Isakson asks, huddled in his office with his 83-year-old father, Bill, and his two sons. "We survived 81 years of ups and downs in this industry. The stock market of '29 and the Depression ... World War II and rationing, the strike years with the steel mills and we survived, the loan guarantee years, which were tough years ... and we survived that, too."
"And now," he pauses, "we're surviving but Chrysler says we're not worth keeping."
"Am I angry?" he asks, then quickly answers. "You're darn right I am."
Recessions are not uncommon. We are accustomed to economic cycles, to booms and busts.
But the current meltdown that has caused so much pain across the country and around the world is also engineering a broad transformation of American life. Businesses that shaped their communities for generations -- banks, newspapers, others -- risk extinction.
GM and Chrysler, once symbols of America's industrial might, filed for bankruptcy. And as part of their get-small strategies, they decided to shrink the number of dealers.
Chrysler released its list first. Hundreds of dealers objected, but a bankruptcy judge approved the automaker's plan to drop 789 U.S. dealerships. (GM eventually expects to shed about 40 percent of its 6,000-dealer network.)
Executives defended their moves as necessary, however painful they might be. Chrysler's president told lawmakers in a recent Senate committee hearing that the poor performance of many dealers costs the company $1.5 billion in lost sales each year. The automaker also said it wanted to bring all three of its brands -- Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge -- under a single roof.
The Isaksons -- who sell only Chryslers and Dodges -- say they can understand cuts. But why punish them? Their sales, they say, have been good (about 205 new cars, 150 used in 2008). They point out they've received high marks from customers.
And as far as being a burden, Rob Isakson says that's ridiculous.
"We buy our own cars, every tool ... every part," he says. "What are we doing that's costing Chrysler money? We're doing nothing. All we're doing is creating more market for them. What's wrong with that?"
What has irked the Isaksons even more is the Obama administration's intervention in the auto industry.
"Starting in Washington and going to Detroit, all the way down, I blame everybody for this," says Eric Isakson, Rob's 32-year-old son. "How can someone tell us when we've done everything that we're supposed to do that we can't keep going on? It's a big slap in the face."
The dealers aren't the only ones who will be taking a hit. The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates the GM and Chrysler dealer closings will wipe out more than 100,000 jobs; the average wage is between $45,000 and $55,000 a year.
Then there's the domino effect.
"How many insurance company salespeople are going to be gone?" Rob Isakson asks. "How many tire stores are going to be closed? How many barber shops, how many restaurants? There's going to be a ripple effect."
Add to that taxes and the gaping holes left by dealers -- many of them family-owned businesses -- who have been mainstays in their communities.
"They're one of the few vestiges of what used to be Main Street America where businesses are locally owned and operated," says John McEleney, chairman of the dealers association. "They're the fabric of the community."
"We're the people the community goes to for support for Little League, for high school athletics, the fund drives for hospitals and colleges," he says. "If GM closes a plant, it's a huge thing. But closing 2,100 dealers is almost like closing 2,100 plants in some of these communities."
Their neighbors find it hard to imagine Hobart without the Isakson dealership. The City Council passed a resolution calling them "anchors of this community," praising their charitable giving and predicting the loss of their franchise -- and a second one in town -- will "cause irreparable harm."
There are people here who still remember Clarence Isakson, who helped found a savings and loan. Others have served with Bill and Rob served on the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary.
The family has donated to food pantries, breast cancer fundraising, the YMCA, the Northwest Indiana Symphony. And the Isaksons have been known to come through in the pinch, too, whether it's cash for July 4 fireworks or a last-minute contribution for the town's Oktoberfest.
"If you've got a problem, you go to Rob and say, 'I need help,'" says Mike Adams, president of the Hobart Chamber of Commerce. "And Rob helps."
The Isaksons have not moved far since they settled here in the late 1800s.
The dealership is just around the corner from the land their Swedish ancestors tilled back then. But just as America traded horses for horseless carriages, the Isaksons, too, embraced the auto.
"When oil is in your blood, it just becomes part of your life," says Rob Isakson.
His grandfather, Clarence, and great-uncle Walt, both Mr. Fix-it types, started their business as the Depression loomed. Times were tough, but dealerships were sprouting up everywhere.
They peaked at about 51,000 in the late 1920s, compared with fewer than 21,000 today, according to the dealership association. (Hobart, a city of almost 28,000, once had Chrysler, Ford, Chevy and American Motors dealers downtown.)
Bill Isakson, now 83, remembers his boyhood sitting along Highway 6, watching a caravan of new Dusenbergs, Pierces and Auburns arrive in Hobart. It was exciting stuff (though it didn't measure up to the day Admiral Richard Byrd, the explorer, breezed through town).
Bill was a Ford man at first. He drove his Model A to high school, then hopped back in after the last bell rang, making a beeline back to the farm to plant corn and beans, milk the cows and clean the barn.
When World War II ended, he joined his dad, Clarence, at what he still calls "the garage." He replaced his Uncle Walt, who moved on to the steel mills.
This gritty stretch of northwest Indiana was once home to many of the nation's steel giants; the mills belched smoke and fire into night sky and furnished jobs that paid enough to put their blue-collar workers behind the wheel of a big, old-fashioned family car made in the USA.
The Isaksons were more than happy to oblige.
Their business was, in a way, a barometer of labor peace. "If there was a (steel) strike, God help us," says Rob Isakson, a husky man with closely cropped hair and a no-nonsense manner. "If it was more than one company, it would really get tight."
Rob, now 52, signed on in the early 1980s, soon after the federal government gave Chrysler about $1.5 billion in loan guarantees to avoid bankruptcy. His father, Bill, was among the dealers who lobbied for help in Washington.
Even with the automaker's near-death experience and other crises -- the explosion of foreign imports, recessions, $4-a-gallon gas -- the Isaksons never doubted their future.
"We just kept going along, we never struggled. We always did our thing and had customers following," says Bill, who favored green cars -- the color of money, he says, and success.
The Isaksons handicap car years, just like a devoted baseball fan would rate a team's seasons. Take 1990 -- a good year, with the Plymouth Acclaim and the Chrysler LeBaron. But 1979? A terrible year as Chrysler and other U.S. automakers struggled against the increasingly popular, smaller, fuel-efficient foreign cars.
"They were building some ..." Rob pauses.
His father bluntly finishes the sentence: "junk."
Their memory extends to customers, too. Rob can tell you about the professor who likes to drive convertibles along curvy roads or the Army veteran who bought 20 cars in 27 years -- a man, he says, who preferred the open roads to an airplane ever since he returned from World War II.
Almost on cue, James Madison pops up in the showroom to offer a confession and a testimonial.
"The last darn good car Chrysler made," he says, leaning in as if to share a secret, "was when Lee Iacocca was chairman of the board." He smiles.
"But I buy whatever they sell here. I trust these people."
When the word spread about the Isaksons, customers came out to protest.
Two members of the business chamber brought a pie and flowers.
"It was like going to see a neighbor who had just lost a family member," says Adams, the chamber president. "There was mourning going on. We tried to say nice things, but we knew there was probably nothing that would change Chrysler's opinion."
And nothing did.
As the showroom emptied, an 80-year-old former customer who drove up from his new home in Tennessee to see family stopped by to get his Chrysler serviced, just as he had for more than 60 years.
By the time the judge ruled that Chrysler could shrink its franchises, Rob Isakson had whittled down his inventory from nearly $4 million to about $750,000.
Just 11 new cars were left.
But his worries are from over: He still has 22 employees (many who've been with him for decades) and says he's doing everything he can to keep them. And he can't escape that guilty feeling; his blood pressure had shot up 50 points in recent weeks.
"I'm in charge when this is happening so I feel I've been a disappointment," he says. "If you're a coach of a football team ... and your team has a losing record and you don't think you've done anything wrong, you still wonder."
The Isaksons will keep their doors open with a used car business and a service department, and they're already talking about another auto franchise, though they're not in a rush.
But it won't be as Eric Isakson had planned, some day passing on the Chrysler brand to a fifth generation -- his young son and daughter.
The family is now waiting for Chrysler to come take down the car's sign.
Rob Isakson is torn. He still has a soft spot in his heart for Chryslers. "It's like your first love," he says.
But would be buy another? He hedges. "I'll tell you," he says, "when the time comes
Friday, June 12, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Renewable Energy growing faster than economy
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Free Prescriptions for Unemployed from Pfizer
Here is a site to checkout for free prescriptions for unemployed people from Pfizer
http://pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/pages/misc/Default
http://pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/pages/misc/Default
One site to consolidate your social networks
Here is a site that consolidates your social network and blogging updates to all you networks at one time. http://www.minggl.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Funemployment- Oh to be young again!
The two links I have posted below are for 2 articles that I found about the new growing trend of "funemplyment" which it seems is the hot new thing for our younger generation to do.
Once I got over the fact that this behavior truly makes me want to puke, I realized that these are the generation of people that are going to be taking care of most of us once we get to retirement age. Gee how come my confidence is shattered even more now. I guess I had better devote more time to home school for my son in addition to his regular school (next year) in hopes he will become a very sucessful entrepreneur or doctor or lawyer to take care of his father. Evidently these people won't!!!
I also wonder if they realize they are taking benefits, food and resources out of the mouths of needy people such as unemployed single parents in this country as well. Considering most of them seem to be single and unattached it looks as though they would not have any sympathy or compassion for the single or unemployed parents of our country. Is this what our country has become? A country of lazy young people who have no desire to succeed?
Look like this is a by product of the culture that we have been living in for the past 30 years and we can now see the effects in our new batch of future business people.
http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-06-03/news/funemployment/1
http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=40912980&gid=1976445&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elatimes%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fla-me-funemployment4-2009jun04%2C3%2C7711624%2Estory&urlhash=7ZHl&trk=news_discuss
Just my opinion,
Dave
Once I got over the fact that this behavior truly makes me want to puke, I realized that these are the generation of people that are going to be taking care of most of us once we get to retirement age. Gee how come my confidence is shattered even more now. I guess I had better devote more time to home school for my son in addition to his regular school (next year) in hopes he will become a very sucessful entrepreneur or doctor or lawyer to take care of his father. Evidently these people won't!!!
I also wonder if they realize they are taking benefits, food and resources out of the mouths of needy people such as unemployed single parents in this country as well. Considering most of them seem to be single and unattached it looks as though they would not have any sympathy or compassion for the single or unemployed parents of our country. Is this what our country has become? A country of lazy young people who have no desire to succeed?
Look like this is a by product of the culture that we have been living in for the past 30 years and we can now see the effects in our new batch of future business people.
http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-06-03/news/funemployment/1
http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=40912980&gid=1976445&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Elatimes%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fla-me-funemployment4-2009jun04%2C3%2C7711624%2Estory&urlhash=7ZHl&trk=news_discuss
Just my opinion,
Dave
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Global HR Director position- Who do you know
Found this on linkedin.com,
http://www.surejobsnetwork.com/dev/fapply.asp?job=20971200929142228&rep=srcoyne
Some of you may know someone for this position
http://www.surejobsnetwork.com/dev/fapply.asp?job=20971200929142228&rep=srcoyne
Some of you may know someone for this position
Friday, June 5, 2009
Check out this site-confidential resume posting
https://jobseeker.quietagent.com/Login.aspx
Very nice concept, why don't some of you try it and let us all know how it works.
Very nice concept, why don't some of you try it and let us all know how it works.
OMG- Another weekend and no job interviews-What to do
I hear this a lot from candidates who are either unemployed or know their company is closing soon these days.
So we all go through our weekends and then when I speak to them on monday they are a few degrees less motivated than they were last week and in addition they are more cynical as well.
Well let's stop that cycle right now.
Now here is a new plan for your career search that you should implement this weekend.
#1 Just because it's the weekend, it does not mean you cannot get productive work or research completed. Have a positive attitude.
#2. Instead of looking at job boards for ads for jobs that 500 other people are looking at, change you search patterns. Got to sites like thomasnet, simplhire, indeed or even google and do more detailed searches. What I mean by detailed searches is that you should be looking for searches like "new company coming to Cincinnati" or whatever. Play with your searches, do different combinations of words like "plastics, medical device, illinois". You would be surprised at the information you will find.
#3. When you find these articles and information ........................"SAVE IT" then go lookup the company online and you will find the company website....................Go study it. Find out what they do, what their culture looks like, history, etc.
#4. Now that you have foudn a half dozen companies that are either expanding or coming to your target area, go to linkedin.com and look up those companies on the site in the specific locations you are targeting. EXAMPLE: "Zimmer" "Indiana" Now you will see how many of the managers or executives at their company are online. Pick the ones you want to contact and save that info.
#5. Now that you are all fired up about the new information you have found, put it all together. What i mean is: Go to the company website get the phone number for the location you want to contact, Look for any links to e-mail addresses on the site as well. Now put together you list of the managers or executives you want to contact monday at that location. Now you have a direct target list of the managers of that company that is either expanding or building in your area. NOW CALL THEM. Have your pen ready and take down all info you acquire in those conversations, you will be surprised at what you will find.
This is just one example of how you can use your time to do specific target searches that will find you opportunities that probably have not even been advertised or have not gotten to that part of the process yet. You will make great contacts and find out a lot of new information as well. Who knows......................you may find your dream job.
Have a great weekend.
So we all go through our weekends and then when I speak to them on monday they are a few degrees less motivated than they were last week and in addition they are more cynical as well.
Well let's stop that cycle right now.
Now here is a new plan for your career search that you should implement this weekend.
#1 Just because it's the weekend, it does not mean you cannot get productive work or research completed. Have a positive attitude.
#2. Instead of looking at job boards for ads for jobs that 500 other people are looking at, change you search patterns. Got to sites like thomasnet, simplhire, indeed or even google and do more detailed searches. What I mean by detailed searches is that you should be looking for searches like "new company coming to Cincinnati" or whatever. Play with your searches, do different combinations of words like "plastics, medical device, illinois". You would be surprised at the information you will find.
#3. When you find these articles and information ........................"SAVE IT" then go lookup the company online and you will find the company website....................Go study it. Find out what they do, what their culture looks like, history, etc.
#4. Now that you have foudn a half dozen companies that are either expanding or coming to your target area, go to linkedin.com and look up those companies on the site in the specific locations you are targeting. EXAMPLE: "Zimmer" "Indiana" Now you will see how many of the managers or executives at their company are online. Pick the ones you want to contact and save that info.
#5. Now that you are all fired up about the new information you have found, put it all together. What i mean is: Go to the company website get the phone number for the location you want to contact, Look for any links to e-mail addresses on the site as well. Now put together you list of the managers or executives you want to contact monday at that location. Now you have a direct target list of the managers of that company that is either expanding or building in your area. NOW CALL THEM. Have your pen ready and take down all info you acquire in those conversations, you will be surprised at what you will find.
This is just one example of how you can use your time to do specific target searches that will find you opportunities that probably have not even been advertised or have not gotten to that part of the process yet. You will make great contacts and find out a lot of new information as well. Who knows......................you may find your dream job.
Have a great weekend.
Good article-Are you ready for "celebrity"
5 Signs That You Are Ready for Your Own Brand of Celebrity
03/06/09 10:02 AM
In today’s world, celebrity isn’t just for celebrities anymore. We have celebrity political pundits, celebrity cooks, lawyers, financial experts, fitness gurus, even celebrity bail bondsmen! Professionals from a wide array of fields are now taking full advantage of this new media age - and the “New Age of Celebrity” we are living in!
For example, it might be an expert turned author like Timothy Ferriss, whose first book The 4-Hour Workweek became an instant classic and perennial bestseller, launching his status as a gold-standard consultant, speaker, expert, pundit… you name it.
Or, more recently, it could be internet sensation and media darling Susan Boyle, who stepped onto the stage of the hit show Britain’s Got Talent to low expectations, opened her mouth and sang beautifully, impressing none other than Simon Cowell and winning over the world as a bona fide Youtube sensation.
And “overnight success” Tim Ferris boasts a BA from Princeton University as well as a long list of academic, professional and personal achievements that went into the writing of his bestselling book. And while Susan Boyle may have leaped to national prominence on the strength of one widely distributed TV performance, she in fact studied theater and dance and might have pursued it earlier if she hadn’t been busy caring for her ailing mother singlehandedly.
So while the true “overnight success” may be rare, there is no denying that in this day and age celebrity is not only there for the taking - but can take you by storm if you’re unprepared. So how will you know when it’s your time to open the doorway to fame?
Here are a few top signals that you’re ready for that next big step toward your own brand of celebrity:
1. You are confident in your abilities: Confidence is a skill central to all celebrities; they know their stuff and, what’s more, they “know” that they know their stuff. You can only “fake it ’til you make it” so long before being caught short in the celebrity department. True celebrities, be they household names or industry leaders like yourself, let confidence be their ticket to fame.
2. You speak success fluently: Success really is a state of mind. If you base success on your bank account, your stock price, your units shipped or your ROI, there will always be someone bigger and better at what you do. New York and LA don’t hold the patents on celebrity; wherever you are, whatever you do, whatever niche you own or expertise you enjoy, that is your ticket to celebrity anywhere in the world.
3. Your associates already see you as a celebrity: Regardless of how much money we make or our position in life, we are all capable of celebrity in our own unique ways. We may never star in a blockbuster movie, write a bestselling business book or sing on live TV, but when we find - and own - our own particular niche we can become celebrities of equal stature in our little (or not so little) corner of the world. Maybe you already are; maybe you have already wowed the local reporters, mastered the local talk show circuit and are already the go-to person for interview quotes in your neck of the woods. Or maybe you’re just the guy or gal everybody goes to with questions on finance, health, fitness, the tango or tomato growing. Don’t assume that blockbuster status comes one day to your doorstep, gift-wrapped with a card announcing itself. I meet celebrities all day long; they just don’t know it yet.
4. You can “run with the big dogs”: Celebrity requires a certain passion, enthusiasm and expertise that is impossible to fake. You can’t bluff your way through a 2-hour seminar - or even a 2-minute segment with a local reporter. If you’re sweating every answer, stumbling over every reply and desperate to run back to your office, people will see that and celebrity will elude you.
5. Celebrity is the next logical move: There comes a point in your career when you have gone as far as you can go without an injection of something special; being recognized as the celebrity expert in your field is something special - and then some!
They say “timing is everything,” but that’s only partly true; for me, timing is a big part of the Celebritize Yourself equation but so too are talent, drive, experience, skill, motivation, energy, enthusiasm, etc.
In other words, if you’re not ready at the right time - or not confident enough or experienced enough or passionate enough, etc. - then not only is the time not right but celebrity will continue to elude you. So, when IS the right time for you to become a celebrity? When the time is right for YOU.
Let these five signs alert you to the fact that your time might just be right now!
http://www.emsincorporated.com/5-signs-that-you-are-ready-for-your-own-brand-of-celebrity/
03/06/09 10:02 AM
In today’s world, celebrity isn’t just for celebrities anymore. We have celebrity political pundits, celebrity cooks, lawyers, financial experts, fitness gurus, even celebrity bail bondsmen! Professionals from a wide array of fields are now taking full advantage of this new media age - and the “New Age of Celebrity” we are living in!
For example, it might be an expert turned author like Timothy Ferriss, whose first book The 4-Hour Workweek became an instant classic and perennial bestseller, launching his status as a gold-standard consultant, speaker, expert, pundit… you name it.
Or, more recently, it could be internet sensation and media darling Susan Boyle, who stepped onto the stage of the hit show Britain’s Got Talent to low expectations, opened her mouth and sang beautifully, impressing none other than Simon Cowell and winning over the world as a bona fide Youtube sensation.
And “overnight success” Tim Ferris boasts a BA from Princeton University as well as a long list of academic, professional and personal achievements that went into the writing of his bestselling book. And while Susan Boyle may have leaped to national prominence on the strength of one widely distributed TV performance, she in fact studied theater and dance and might have pursued it earlier if she hadn’t been busy caring for her ailing mother singlehandedly.
So while the true “overnight success” may be rare, there is no denying that in this day and age celebrity is not only there for the taking - but can take you by storm if you’re unprepared. So how will you know when it’s your time to open the doorway to fame?
Here are a few top signals that you’re ready for that next big step toward your own brand of celebrity:
1. You are confident in your abilities: Confidence is a skill central to all celebrities; they know their stuff and, what’s more, they “know” that they know their stuff. You can only “fake it ’til you make it” so long before being caught short in the celebrity department. True celebrities, be they household names or industry leaders like yourself, let confidence be their ticket to fame.
2. You speak success fluently: Success really is a state of mind. If you base success on your bank account, your stock price, your units shipped or your ROI, there will always be someone bigger and better at what you do. New York and LA don’t hold the patents on celebrity; wherever you are, whatever you do, whatever niche you own or expertise you enjoy, that is your ticket to celebrity anywhere in the world.
3. Your associates already see you as a celebrity: Regardless of how much money we make or our position in life, we are all capable of celebrity in our own unique ways. We may never star in a blockbuster movie, write a bestselling business book or sing on live TV, but when we find - and own - our own particular niche we can become celebrities of equal stature in our little (or not so little) corner of the world. Maybe you already are; maybe you have already wowed the local reporters, mastered the local talk show circuit and are already the go-to person for interview quotes in your neck of the woods. Or maybe you’re just the guy or gal everybody goes to with questions on finance, health, fitness, the tango or tomato growing. Don’t assume that blockbuster status comes one day to your doorstep, gift-wrapped with a card announcing itself. I meet celebrities all day long; they just don’t know it yet.
4. You can “run with the big dogs”: Celebrity requires a certain passion, enthusiasm and expertise that is impossible to fake. You can’t bluff your way through a 2-hour seminar - or even a 2-minute segment with a local reporter. If you’re sweating every answer, stumbling over every reply and desperate to run back to your office, people will see that and celebrity will elude you.
5. Celebrity is the next logical move: There comes a point in your career when you have gone as far as you can go without an injection of something special; being recognized as the celebrity expert in your field is something special - and then some!
They say “timing is everything,” but that’s only partly true; for me, timing is a big part of the Celebritize Yourself equation but so too are talent, drive, experience, skill, motivation, energy, enthusiasm, etc.
In other words, if you’re not ready at the right time - or not confident enough or experienced enough or passionate enough, etc. - then not only is the time not right but celebrity will continue to elude you. So, when IS the right time for you to become a celebrity? When the time is right for YOU.
Let these five signs alert you to the fact that your time might just be right now!
http://www.emsincorporated.com/5-signs-that-you-are-ready-for-your-own-brand-of-celebrity/
Site to checkout
This site is ran by one of my westcoast contacts. http://www.peopleconnectionllc.com/
I will possibly be adding more jobs here in the midwest to it since I am negotiating with her on adding my database to hers. Go check it out.
I will possibly be adding more jobs here in the midwest to it since I am negotiating with her on adding my database to hers. Go check it out.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Intersting reading-Mark Cuban's blog
If you want to find some uniique perspectives on things both business and political, got checkout Marl Cuban's blog at http://blogmaverick.com/
If you are in need of capitol to start a business then most certainly checkout his section on his economic stimulus package to Americans where he will fund your startup of a new business.
If you are in need of capitol to start a business then most certainly checkout his section on his economic stimulus package to Americans where he will fund your startup of a new business.
Some criteria here
Ok everyone, I just this blog so that everyone can communicate a lot of the research and intelligence that gets uncovered by each of you on new job openings, contacts at companies, new emerging technologies, friends that run companies that may be hiring, etc. Also you are free to post you opinions on economic conditions, hiring practices, opinions on hiring processes, helpful tips to interviewing, helpful tips on social websites, etc, etc.
I did'nt create this for someone to just post ads they see. We all know as professionals that in today's job market and business market that business is now more than ever, done by referrals and inside intelligence.
I hope to see many of you posting and helping one another to help "pay it forward" One thing I would encourage is that if you have interviewed or talked to a company and the job is not for you or not in your geographic preference, let others know about it. They may be the ideal fit for the job.
If you know someone you want to connect with then ask if someone knows anyone at that company and possibly have then get you linkedin to them to make the connection for them.
I would hope that some of you are successful in finding a new position and that some of you will use you connections to get others connected to the hiring authorities they need to get in touch with to give them an advance in the hiring process.
Dave
I did'nt create this for someone to just post ads they see. We all know as professionals that in today's job market and business market that business is now more than ever, done by referrals and inside intelligence.
I hope to see many of you posting and helping one another to help "pay it forward" One thing I would encourage is that if you have interviewed or talked to a company and the job is not for you or not in your geographic preference, let others know about it. They may be the ideal fit for the job.
If you know someone you want to connect with then ask if someone knows anyone at that company and possibly have then get you linkedin to them to make the connection for them.
I would hope that some of you are successful in finding a new position and that some of you will use you connections to get others connected to the hiring authorities they need to get in touch with to give them an advance in the hiring process.
Dave
The purpose of this blog
Hi everyone,
Well it looks like I have not moved into the new age with blogging. I guess it was envitable huh? Well the reason I started this blog is so that I can communicate with a lot of my professional contacts throughout the world in all the various business categories. Most everyone know that I am constantly communcating and speaking with a wide variety of professionals in many different types of companies and regions as well. Through those conversation I recieve a lot of information on regional economic conditions, emerging technologies, new companies that are hiring, new resources in different regions, etc, etc. Through all this medium I can now communicate some of this intelligence to many of you and of course I will occasionally express my own personal opinions as well. Of course I encourage all of you to "chime in" with your own personal opinions as well.
I look forward to hearing from many of you once I get this blog rolling with daily updates and information.
Dave Goush
Senior Business Consultant
Well it looks like I have not moved into the new age with blogging. I guess it was envitable huh? Well the reason I started this blog is so that I can communicate with a lot of my professional contacts throughout the world in all the various business categories. Most everyone know that I am constantly communcating and speaking with a wide variety of professionals in many different types of companies and regions as well. Through those conversation I recieve a lot of information on regional economic conditions, emerging technologies, new companies that are hiring, new resources in different regions, etc, etc. Through all this medium I can now communicate some of this intelligence to many of you and of course I will occasionally express my own personal opinions as well. Of course I encourage all of you to "chime in" with your own personal opinions as well.
I look forward to hearing from many of you once I get this blog rolling with daily updates and information.
Dave Goush
Senior Business Consultant
Goodbye GM-By Michael Moore
Goodbye, GMby Michael Moore
June 1, 2009
I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh -- and that wouldn't start falling apart after two years.
GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of workers for no good reason other than to "improve" the short-term bottom line of the corporation.
Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes.So here we are at the deathbed of General Motors. The company's body not yet cold, and I find myself filled with -- dare I say it -- joy. It is not the joy of revenge against a corporation that ruined my hometown and brought misery, divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, physical and mental debilitation, and drug addiction to the people I grew up with. Nor do I, obviously, claim any joy in knowing that 21,000 more GM workers will be told that they, too, are without a job.But you and I and the rest of America now own a car company! I know, I know -- who on earth wants to run a car company? Who among us wants $50 billion of our tax dollars thrown down the rat hole of still trying to save GM?
Let's be clear about this: The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, we will sorely wish we still had them when we realize that those factories could have built the alternative energy systems we now desperately need. And when we realize that the best way to transport ourselves is on light rail and bullet trains and cleaner buses, how will we do this if we've allowed our industrial capacity and its skilled workforce to disappear?Thus, as GM is "reorganized" by the federal government and the bankruptcy court, here is the plan I am asking President Obama to implement for the good of the workers, the GM communities, and the nation as a whole. Twenty years ago when I made "Roger & Me," I tried to warn people about what was ahead for General Motors. Had the power structure and the punditocracy listened, maybe much of this could have been avoided. Based on my track record, I request an honest and sincere consideration of the following suggestions:1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The fascists were defeated.
We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call "cars" may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.
2. Don't put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce -- and most of those who have been laid off -- employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now.
3. Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one! The fact that the technology already exists for us to go from New York to L.A. in 17 hours by train, and that we haven't used it, is criminal. Let's hire the unemployed to build the new high speed lines all over the country. Chicago to Detroit in less than two hours. Miami to DC in under 7 hours. Denver to Dallas in five and a half. This can be done and done now.
4. Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire local people everywhere to install and run this system.
5. For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM plants produce energy efficient clean buses.
6. For the time being, have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars (and batteries). It will take a few years for people to get used to the new ways to transport ourselves, so if we're going to have automobiles, let's have kinder, gentler ones. We can be building these next month (do not believe anyone who tells you it will take years to retool the factories -- that simply isn't true).
7. Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled workforce who can build them.
8. Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train. Also, credits for those who convert their home to alternative energy.
9. To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them.Well, that's a start.
Please, please, please don't save GM so that a smaller version of it will simply do nothing more than build Chevys or Cadillacs. This is not a long-term solution. Don't throw bad money into a company whose tailpipe is malfunctioning, causing a strange odor to fill the car.100 years ago this year, the founders of General Motors convinced the world to give up their horses and saddles and buggy whips to try a new form of transportation. Now it is time for us to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine. It seemed to serve us well for so long. We enjoyed the car hops at the A&W. We made out in the front -- and the back -- seat. We watched movies on large outdoor screens, went to the races at NASCAR tracks across the country, and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time through the window down Hwy.
1. And now it's over. It's a new day and a new century. The President -- and the UAW -- must seize this moment and create a big batch of lemonade from this very sour and sad lemon.
Yesterday, the last surviving person from the Titanic disaster passed away. She escaped certain death that night and went on to live another 97 years.So can we survive our own Titanic in all the Flint Michigans of this country. 60% of GM is ours. I think we can do a better job.
Yours,Michael Moore
June 1, 2009
I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh -- and that wouldn't start falling apart after two years.
GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of workers for no good reason other than to "improve" the short-term bottom line of the corporation.
Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes.So here we are at the deathbed of General Motors. The company's body not yet cold, and I find myself filled with -- dare I say it -- joy. It is not the joy of revenge against a corporation that ruined my hometown and brought misery, divorce, alcoholism, homelessness, physical and mental debilitation, and drug addiction to the people I grew up with. Nor do I, obviously, claim any joy in knowing that 21,000 more GM workers will be told that they, too, are without a job.But you and I and the rest of America now own a car company! I know, I know -- who on earth wants to run a car company? Who among us wants $50 billion of our tax dollars thrown down the rat hole of still trying to save GM?
Let's be clear about this: The only way to save GM is to kill GM. Saving our precious industrial infrastructure, though, is another matter and must be a top priority. If we allow the shutting down and tearing down of our auto plants, we will sorely wish we still had them when we realize that those factories could have built the alternative energy systems we now desperately need. And when we realize that the best way to transport ourselves is on light rail and bullet trains and cleaner buses, how will we do this if we've allowed our industrial capacity and its skilled workforce to disappear?Thus, as GM is "reorganized" by the federal government and the bankruptcy court, here is the plan I am asking President Obama to implement for the good of the workers, the GM communities, and the nation as a whole. Twenty years ago when I made "Roger & Me," I tried to warn people about what was ahead for General Motors. Had the power structure and the punditocracy listened, maybe much of this could have been avoided. Based on my track record, I request an honest and sincere consideration of the following suggestions:1. Just as President Roosevelt did after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the President must tell the nation that we are at war and we must immediately convert our auto factories to factories that build mass transit vehicles and alternative energy devices. Within months in Flint in 1942, GM halted all car production and immediately used the assembly lines to build planes, tanks and machine guns. The conversion took no time at all. Everyone pitched in. The fascists were defeated.
We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call "cars" may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.The other front in this war is being waged by the oil companies against you and me. They are committed to fleecing us whenever they can, and they have been reckless stewards of the finite amount of oil that is located under the surface of the earth. They know they are sucking it bone dry. And like the lumber tycoons of the early 20th century who didn't give a damn about future generations as they tore down every forest they could get their hands on, these oil barons are not telling the public what they know to be true -- that there are only a few more decades of useable oil on this planet. And as the end days of oil approach us, get ready for some very desperate people willing to kill and be killed just to get their hands on a gallon can of gasoline.President Obama, now that he has taken control of GM, needs to convert the factories to new and needed uses immediately.
2. Don't put another $30 billion into the coffers of GM to build cars. Instead, use that money to keep the current workforce -- and most of those who have been laid off -- employed so that they can build the new modes of 21st century transportation. Let them start the conversion work now.
3. Announce that we will have bullet trains criss-crossing this country in the next five years. Japan is celebrating the 45th anniversary of its first bullet train this year. Now they have dozens of them. Average speed: 165 mph. Average time a train is late: under 30 seconds. They have had these high speed trains for nearly five decades -- and we don't even have one! The fact that the technology already exists for us to go from New York to L.A. in 17 hours by train, and that we haven't used it, is criminal. Let's hire the unemployed to build the new high speed lines all over the country. Chicago to Detroit in less than two hours. Miami to DC in under 7 hours. Denver to Dallas in five and a half. This can be done and done now.
4. Initiate a program to put light rail mass transit lines in all our large and medium-sized cities. Build those trains in the GM factories. And hire local people everywhere to install and run this system.
5. For people in rural areas not served by the train lines, have the GM plants produce energy efficient clean buses.
6. For the time being, have some factories build hybrid or all-electric cars (and batteries). It will take a few years for people to get used to the new ways to transport ourselves, so if we're going to have automobiles, let's have kinder, gentler ones. We can be building these next month (do not believe anyone who tells you it will take years to retool the factories -- that simply isn't true).
7. Transform some of the empty GM factories to facilities that build windmills, solar panels and other means of alternate forms of energy. We need tens of millions of solar panels right now. And there is an eager and skilled workforce who can build them.
8. Provide tax incentives for those who travel by hybrid car or bus or train. Also, credits for those who convert their home to alternative energy.
9. To help pay for this, impose a two-dollar tax on every gallon of gasoline. This will get people to switch to more energy saving cars or to use the new rail lines and rail cars the former autoworkers have built for them.Well, that's a start.
Please, please, please don't save GM so that a smaller version of it will simply do nothing more than build Chevys or Cadillacs. This is not a long-term solution. Don't throw bad money into a company whose tailpipe is malfunctioning, causing a strange odor to fill the car.100 years ago this year, the founders of General Motors convinced the world to give up their horses and saddles and buggy whips to try a new form of transportation. Now it is time for us to say goodbye to the internal combustion engine. It seemed to serve us well for so long. We enjoyed the car hops at the A&W. We made out in the front -- and the back -- seat. We watched movies on large outdoor screens, went to the races at NASCAR tracks across the country, and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time through the window down Hwy.
1. And now it's over. It's a new day and a new century. The President -- and the UAW -- must seize this moment and create a big batch of lemonade from this very sour and sad lemon.
Yesterday, the last surviving person from the Titanic disaster passed away. She escaped certain death that night and went on to live another 97 years.So can we survive our own Titanic in all the Flint Michigans of this country. 60% of GM is ours. I think we can do a better job.
Yours,Michael Moore
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
