Building Pros See Business Improving
By Mike Botta March 22, 2012 – As recent news reports indicate that consumer confidence is on the rise, building industry professionals say they are seeing an increase in revenue....more »
U.S. Challenges China to Play by the Rules
By Mike Botta...more »
Knock on Wood for a 2012 Rebound
By Mike Botta January 12, 2012 – As we enter 2012, it’s looking a lot like 2011, 2010, 2009 and, dare we say, 2008. It’s tough to tell these days whether the news is good or bad. One day the word is that auto sales are healthy and...more »
Wood Products Up Despite Economic Turmoil
By Mike Botta December 8, 2011 – While the deep financial troubles in Europe deepen and the fragile U.S. economy seems to be barely limping along, recent reports indicate some encouraging trends....more »
Keep ‘Thanks’ in Thanksgiving
By Mike Botta Perhaps the greatest thing about Thanksgiving Day is that it truly is an American holiday, a time to spend with family and close friends, and to be thankful for everything important in our lives. It’s also that rare holiday that...more »
Manufacturers: Canada Has Leg Up on U.S.
By Mike Botta Canada and the U.S. might be inseparably joined from the neck down, but not so much at the head when it comes to corporate taxes. ...more »
Sourcing Overseas May Be Huge Mistake
By Mike Botta Is China the manufacturing miracle that countless global corporations believe it is, or have many of the same international giants simply been guilty of practicing “herd mentality”? Perhaps surprisingly, there’s a...more »
Report Card: Indiana ‘A’, New Mexico ‘F’
By Mike Botta Only five states received “A” grades for manufacturing and health while four others were slapped with “F’s” in a new report card released this month by Ball State University. ...more »
New Restrictions on Wood Packaging Materials on Way
A proposal from APHIS would remove the exemption from ISPM 15 on wood packaging material moving between Canada and the U.S. ...more »
OSHA to Define New Dust Standards
Edited by Mike Botta The Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America (WMMA) wants to make industrial and wood products companies aware of pending new regulations concerning the safe handling of combustible dust. Federal regulators are drawing up new...more »
How to Fix Manufacturing, Let’s Count the Ways
By Mike Botta The more one watches Congress in action, the more one understands why it is so difficult to quickly move forward even on some of the nation’s more critical issues....more »
Good and Bad: Technology’s Two Faces
By Mike Botta This is not about politics. It’s about technology and our ability to grow, advance and, frankly, to live with it. Once again we were reminded in a very stark way about a week ago in Tucson that for all the great things that...more »
Buyer Beware: Good Times Ahead?
By Mike Botta It’s hard to believe that it’s already 2011. Whatever happened to 2008, 2009 and 2010? Never mind. We all know what happened and it wasn’t pretty. But, in examining some of the tea leaves recently, there may be...more »
Universal Health Care or One Big Nightmare?
By Mike Botta Put aside the euphoria on one side and the angry rhetoric on the other side. We now have something that, good or bad, will reshape the way we will live for generations to come. ...more »
Gargling with turpentine vs primal screaming
By Steve Ehle, Field Editor Sometimes I feel like I’d rather gargle with turpentine than again address the issue of the economy, the state of the woodworking industry, and how it can bounce back. But I’ve never had the writing yips...more »
As Goes the Economy, So Goes the Environment
By Mike Botta Seems that a growing number of Americans no longer feel as strongly as they did since the 1980s about the merits of preserving and protecting the environment. ...more »
Washington to Woodworking: Duh!
By Steve Ehle, Field Editor Ponderings, observations and opinions about the current state of the woodworking industry . . . ...more »
