Economic News
The economy continues to offer wild speculation. If you listen to one of our candidates, it’s doom and gloom and an eventual bubble-popping event that will run us into the poor house. The Fed is still minding the store but Janet Yellin is continuing to talk about a rate hike, which may not come until the end of Q1 in 2017, the same time my Louisville Cardinals will be celebrating the national championship in NCAA football.
I predict that a stock correction is in order, but not the imminent collapse predicted by Donald Trump. Stocks have outgained the actual output and gains in the world economy and with such low interest rates, people have only one area to put their money for real gains and that’s the stock market. Like anything else in the world with high demand, the value and stock prices continue to rise but not in step with the actual slower gains in GDP.
Oil Futures
Opec has finally flexed a little muscle in the market by agreeing to shed capacity to the tune of 750,000 barrels a day. This will bring much needed relief to many countries, as they are deeply fossil fuel dependent. However, any type of increase in oil prices usually allows the geopolitical world to have a much more powerful Russia, Venezuela and Iran. If this agreement to cut oil production stands, you will see moderate rise in oil prices until the end of the year.
Resin Market
The resin companies have pushed the increase through and they will hold on to it for now. As Opec plays the Lord Donkey Kong game throwing barrels at us for us to jump over as we climb ladders to win, their decision to cut production will assist the resin suppliers in maintaining this increase for the short term.
Paper Futures
The paper market was like a James Bond Martini, shaken, not stirred. Sonoco announced a 40-60 dollar a ton increase while many major paper suppliers followed suit. The increase harkens back to the normal increase jargon, rising costs in personnel, insurance expense, higher liability costs…..need to pad the wallets of our shareholders.
Ron’s View
I went to the apple store this weekend, it was a horrible sports weekend as I saw my Louisville Cardinals lose to Clemson. So after I binged on the early Halloween candy we bought, I walked into the Apple Store to put my hands on the new Iphone 7. As I had a “Genius” tell me the differences between this phone and my current Iphone 6S, I couldn’t shake the fact that it really looks the same. The young “Genius” told me how much faster the processor was and the improved battery life, and how they revolutionized the world by courageously taking out the earphone jack. I said to him, “Are they more courageous than the men who fought in Iwo Jima?” He stared at me and said, “I think I saw that movie, Clint Eastwood did that, didn’t he?” I shook my head in disbelief. I was always under the impression that Apple was the most innovative company in the world and I thought about poor Steve Jobs. Would he really have approved of this new very similar, narrowly improved version of an Iphone? Steve Jobs and I share a love for the Beatles, and I couldn’t help but think maybe John Lennon was right.
“There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It’s easy
Nothing you can make that can’t be made No one you can save that can’t be saved Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time It’s easy”
I was fascinated with Steve Job’s need for innovation; he strived to be different when everyone begged him to pump out mindless boxes like his competition. He dodged the temptation to simply be wealthy and compliant and in doing so, he changed the world.Alliance Plastics is not Apple, but when I have vendors asking me to sell the same mindless things, I ask my crew, why not be different and they came out with several new innovations that truly at least, really did change our industry.
We know our innovative products are amazing because we can’t get capacity fast enough and when we show these new products, people can’t help to grab it, feel it and instantly want to buy them. It’s something incredible to conceptually create something from an image in your head to the finished product. Maybe someone in our development team will slip in their bathroom and develop the flux capacitor and make a Delorean time machine. The vision for Alliance Plastics is unending and we will always push the boundaries; it’s ingrained in our DNA. As for the Iphone 7, I am due an upgrade but I can’t help but question the courage of Apple to let go of that phone jack. I didn’t get enthusiastic about the wireless ear pods that look like my ear is smoking cigarettes and it appears to be the easiest way since Roulette to lose 165.00.
I can only say, as long as I’m alive, we won’t stop pushing and creating and I felt sorry for poor Mr. Jobs, I can only think had he been alive, the Iphone 7 would be shaped in new angles that made it even more attractive and with new features that would make us line up a week early at the stores. In this new Iphone, I see a lacking in the innovation that made Apple great under Steve Job’s vision.