Although books are being written (and movies made) on the pro’s and con’s of Hydraulic Fracturing (correctly abbreviated as “frac’ing”) and the related revolutionary technology of Horizontal Drilling, I’ll give my opinion in the form of an ‘elevator speech’ (i.e. 600 words or less), understanding that I’m an American business person and recognize my views are USA biased. More…
Monthly Archives: December 2013
“Money Never Sleeps”, until…!!! 2
I have always thought ‘Wall Street’ was one of the all-time great movies, not only for enjoyment but as a business movie. There are some great principles to be learned (and also several to be avoided; i.e., Greed is actually not good), but one of the lines I thought is great was “Wake up Buddy boy, Money Never Sleeps”.
My wife runs an event business on our farm, and this year she has initiated a Country Christmas Event starting the day after Thanksgiving. At 6’6” and a deep voice, I was the clear favorite to be ‘Santa’ for these days. This would mean taking a few Friday afternoons from my ‘day job’ in the chemical business at TRInternational, Inc where I am enjoying my new role as full time trader and salesperson (see my blog posted earlier). November 29 was to be my first day, and suffice to say I had a lot of business stuff on my mind. More…
GSP Reinstatement. Help or Hurt the Chemical Industry?? 1
Since its inception in 1976, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) has provided US importers with access to competitively-priced products, supported U.S. jobs, promoted economic growth in the developing world and supported favorable labor practices by offering a competitive advantage to companies from applicable countries.
As of 2012, the number of beneficiary countries and territories came to 126 (43 of which are “least developed countries”), the number of tariff lines eligible for GSP was 4,980 and the dollar value of imports cleared under GSP reached $19.9 B. A total of $742 M were saved on products ranging from ferroalloys, fiber optic wires, jewelry and petroleum oil.
Regretfully, the U.S. government failed to reinstate GSP in August of this year and since that time, companies small and large are paying significantly more for their imports (lest anyone feel this program only benefits the “big guys”, see the Coalition for GSP’s website which advises 78% of their members are business with less than 100 employees and that the “typical” company has just 15 employees). More…
Do you want your children following you in the chemical business? 4
My friend, and competitor, John Lagae (@greenchemind) published this picture of his son reading in the back of his car.
Do you want your children to follow you in the #chemical business?
It’s a great photo, and raises the question…
Do you want your children following you in the chemical business?
I’d love to have my children in the business (only if they are the ones that initiate the interest), but I’d like to hear from others. How about those who have 2nd generation involved, or are the 2nd generation? Pls discuss.
Tony Ridnell 