Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Have I mentioned the pace of change, lately?

After writing my missive about change, yesterday, I come home to an e-mail from Diamond Comics, informing everyone in the western U.S.A. that they are closing their L. A. warehouse. Starting in March, they'll be shipping from Mississippi.

Mississippi.

Hard to see this as a good thing for us. Too many things can go wrong between here and Mississippi.

I will no longer be able to get supplies in just a few days, I'll no longer be able to get comic reorders from L.A. in only a week. It will be a two week swing, at minimum, from Mississippi.

Also kind of worries me that they feel the financial necessity of closing all warehouses west of Mississippi.

Mississippi. (There, I've now spelled out Mississippi more times in this one blog than I ever have in my life, thus finally justifying the memorization of the word.)

As someone else mentioned -- closings are almost never a good sign.

Once upon a time, we got our comics from Portland, Oregon. If you can imagine.

Mississippi.

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So I'm watching Jon Stewart last night and he has a clip of Bernanke more or less saying, "Oh, we're not really going into the debt; we're just printing the money we need."

O.K. Color me naive.

I thought when critics accused the Fed of "printing money", they were speaking figuratively.

Printing money.

That can't be good.

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I should probably never forget that other businesses are also going through momentous changes. Probably MOST other small businesses -- and, well, large businesses too, I suppose.

Anyway, the closing of the retail part of Satterlee's Jewelers in Redmond just sort of reminded me how often in my conversation with jewelers, they mention that it's the repair and design part of the business that is thriving for them.

Walmart sells diamonds.

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The president of Brooks Resources "...accepts St. Charles position."

Knowing only what I read in the paper, you got to figure that being a land developer is probably not the most exciting place to be right now. Just saying. There is probably huge money in being a developer when times are flush -- even for management.

Now? Probably more a baby-sitting job.

Or....maybe he's just taking on a more fulfilling job. I don't really know.

Just seemed like a surprise

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There is a scene in the old Fritz Lang German movie "M", where Peter Lorre (who plays a child murderer) has been chased by every citizen of Berlin and is brought before the crime bosses and surrounded by menacing men -- and he does his patented cornered squeal. You almost feel sorry for him. The child murderer. Almost.

Julian Assange made me remember that scene.

2 comments:

H. Bruce Miller said...

"Printing money. That can't be good."

We've been doing it ever since we went off the gold standard. It isn't a problem until the rest of the world decides we're a bad credit risk. Which could happen, but I don't see it as an immediate danger.

RDC said...

Its closer then you might think.

The US debt to GDP ratio is not that dramatically better then the PIIGS in Europe and in a few years is expected to be worse than Ireland is today.