Quotes and Stories for Living Life

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L I F E !

From Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for . . .

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

 

Support LIFE!

 

Hey, my friends:

I'm sharing information about the annual banquet of the Piedmont Women's Center. This is an extraordinary dinner that usually draws close to 1,300 people from the Upstate area to support this wonderful ministry. Each year over 3,000 young women come through PWC’s doors in a crisis pregnancy situation. The wonderful staff at PWC show them the love of Christ and minister to them with the truth that the baby they carry is not an accident but a blessing from God.

When I served on the Board of PWC (for six wonderful years), we courageously decided to add an ultrasound program. Now the young women can see the little toes and fingers wiggling on their baby at 12 weeks from conception. Over 90% of the women who see the ultrasound choose to see the truth - this is their baby, alive and kicking - and they make the choice of life for their precious little one. This is a local ministry, for local girls, supported solely by your contributions.

I'm asking you to pray about this dinner and, if you feel called, to reach out and join PWC on this wonderful evening. If you are able, as a business or individual, please consider helping to sponsor the banquet.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention... Make sure that you bring tissues to the dinner. There is something about meeting little babies who are alive today because of your generosity. You will be touched to the heart, and this may manifest itself as a tear.

If you have any questions about the ministry, give my friend Lenna Neil a call and tell her that you are my friend. She is a bold leader and has carried God's message for years. You will enjoy meeting her in person.

Sincerely,

Gary Tompkins

Banquet Details:
·        Starting January 25, register online at www.piedmontwomenscenter.org/banquet or call Piedmont Women’s Center at (864) 244-1434.
·        Time: 6:45 PM, Thursday, March 18, 2010
·        Speaker: Dr. Bruce Wilkinson
·        Place: Carolina First Center, One Exposition Avenue, Hall B

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News You Can Use

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Gallup Daily Economic Indexes

Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index combines the responses of Gallup's Economic Conditions and Economic Outlook measures. Gallup's Job Creation Index is the net of Gallup's Job Market measure.

Click here to see the graph.

 

Real Time Economics

Economic insight and analysis from The Wall Street Journal

By Kelly Evans, January 29, 1010

The 5.7% jump in fourth-quarter gross domestic product was largely a quirk of slower inventory declines. But that doesn’t mean it’s invalid.

The Commerce Department said on Friday that GDP rose at 5.7% pace in the fourth quarter, its fastest in three years. Slower liquidation of inventories held in warehouses and stockrooms is contributed about 3.4 percentage points of that growth.

How so? Production collapsed during the recession as companies sold from their existing inventories but didn’t order new goods, because of uncertainty about future customer demand. These inventory declines dragged on GDP for six consecutive quarters, the longest streak on record since 1948.

Now that the pace of liquidation is slowing, those changes are showing up as a boost to GDP growth. Some economists prefer to look at final sales to domestic purchasers, a subset of GDP that doesn’t include inventories and trade, to better gauge U.S. economic activity. That category rose at a 3.9% annualized pace in the fourth quarter.

But inventories shouldn’t be ignored. Eventually, inventory-led production gets factories humming and provides income to workers, which supports consumer spending, the biggest component of GDP.

“That’s how recoveries become self-sustaining,” says Dean Maki, chief U.S. economist at Barclays Capital. And given the unusually deep inventory cuts during this recession, he adds, “the kick as production simply catches up to sales will be larger in this recovery” than in the recent past.

Considering the fourth-quarter increase, average GDP growth in the first two quarters after the recession came in above 4%, topping the average 2.3% seen after the past two recessions, according to IHS Global Insight.

Concerns persist that the economy’s momentum could fade, but there are signs that demand is improving. Consumer spending, for example, rose at a 2.7% annualized rate in the three months through November, excluding auto purchases, which were inflated by the government’s cash-for-clunkers program.

Inventory-led growth can’t last forever. But it’s a fine way to start.

 

ExecuNet Exclusive: Recruiters Confident as Companies Fill Gaps

RecruitSmart Today: January 14, 2010

The outlook for the executive employment market and executive recruiting activity continues to brighten amid signs the economy is rebounding. Executive search firms now expect a 19-percent increase in management search assignments from corporate clients — the highest since early 2008 — and more are prepared to add consulting and research staff in anticipation of the growth. In December, ExecuNet's benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index survey of 153 executive search consultants found that 54 percent are "confident" or "very confident" the executive employment market will improve during the next six months. In addition to forecasting that double-digit increase in search assignment growth in the year ahead, 21 percent of all search firms are planning to add professional staff in the first quarter of 2010. "The anticipated increase in search activity shows companies have started to expand their workforces after a long period of cutbacks," says Mark Anderson, President and Chief Economist of ExecuNet.

 

 

 

It's Economic Freedom That Will Save the Earth

The best way to create sustainable environmental policies around the world is to increase economic growth and the standard of living.

By Terry Miller and Anthony Kim - FOXNews.com

 Updated January 11, 2010

A shadow hung over the Copenhagen Conference last year. The credibility of sophisticated climate science has been tainted by allegations that key scientists and institutions manipulated data and access to publications to support the case for global warming. Still, many around the world would support sensible, cost-effective strategies to minimize the risk of man-made global climate change.

The inconvenient truth, however, is that the mammoth government regulatory schemes discussed at Copenhagen are both prohibitively expensive and unlikely to work -- the worst possible combination in any cost/benefit analysis.

There is a better way.

For 15 years, The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have been measuring economic freedom in countries worldwide. Our historical evidence and volumes of supportive social science research demonstrate that economic freedom is good not only for individual economic advancement, but for the progressive values and public goods that people seek for society as a whole.

It’s simply better to live in a free society. Higher levels of economic freedom lead to higher living standards and healthier human development. Greater economic freedom provides more choices and improves the quality of life by opening opportunities and promoting innovation.

The benefits of economic freedom also extend to environmental protection. Proponents of cap-and-trade schemes or other massive government regulatory interventions assert that only a strong government can protect the environment. In fact, the market forces unleashed in an economically free society are far more likely to drive economic results in the positive directions demanded by those concerned about the environment.

The most remarkable improvements in clean energy use and energy efficiency over the past decades haven’t been as a result of government regulation. The most progress was driven by advances in economic freedom and freer trade. These unleash greater economic opportunity and increase prosperity, generating a virtuous cycle of investment, innovation, and dynamic economic growth.

The fundamental flaw of those who favor new government regulations is their belief that there is a trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection. They seem to think that to get more of one, you have to have less of the other. The truth is just the opposite: to get more environmental protection you need more growth, not less. And the surest path to economic growth is through greater economic freedom.

Read more here.

 

The Jobs Crisis

Chicago Tribune. January 8, 2010

Illinois, with its nation-leading 7,000 units of government, needs several million private-sector taxpayers to sustain that vast public sector. Trouble already: Unemployment is in double digits and precious few jobs are materializing in Illinois -- two pathologies many of our ruling politicians want to blame almost solely on the Great Recession. That's convenient for the polls, but it threatens to mislead us voters.

Truth is, much of Illinois' jobs crisis is rooted right here at home. Mismanagement under Republicans and Democrats in Springfield hasn't merely failed to make Illinois a place where smart employers would want to invest and expand. State government has all but erected Jumbotron screens to say "Jobs, Go Away."

In the 2010 primary and general elections, Illinois voters need to hold public officials responsible for their role in stunting economic growth here. Let the polls moan about how helpless they are in a recession. Then remind them that Illinois was losing ground to other states before the recession hit.

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Illinois' undisciplined spending, its high business taxes and its backlog of unfunded obligations make this an unattractive state to prospective employers. Take a hard look at arguably the most underreported story in Illinois: how low this state's employment climate has fallen, and the company Illinois now keeps at the bottom of the barrel:

• Illinois has fewer jobs today than it did a decade ago. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Illinois nonfarm employment totaled just under 5.7 million jobs in November 2009 -- down from more than 6 million jobs in November 1999. To add context: While Illinois was shedding some 367,000 jobs, the BLS says, total U.S. nonfarm employment increased by about 1 million jobs, to 132.2 million.

• Illinois ranked a dismal 48th in job creation during the decade from 1997 to 2007 according to "Rich States, Poor States," a 2009 report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Only Ohio and Michigan, which have been rusting away for three decades while states friendlier to employers were growing new jobs, performed worse.

• And the future -- unless Illinoisans demand that their state be more competitive -- appears bleak: The ALEC study ranked Illinois' economic outlook as an alarming 44th in the U.S., besting only these basket cases: Ohio, New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont and New York. This ranking relied on 15 policy factors that influence a state's growth prospects. Among them: tax burdens, debt service, legal liability climate, mandated minimum wage, and state spending limits if any. Illinois trails every state on its border. Indiana ranks a relatively robust 17th.

• ALEC isn't alone in its pessimism: In a little-noticed November briefing, the Illinois legislature's economic think tank -- the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability -- quoted data from its outside financial analysts suggesting that while half the states would recover from their current job losses by the second quarter of 2013, "Illinois would not recover its peak employment level until 2014 or 2015." In the meantime, " ... 10 states, including Illinois, are expected to suffer unemployment rates in excess of 9 percent."

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Many Illinois political leaders don't want to offend their pet constituencies by overhauling the state taxing, spending and borrowing policies that put such a drag on job creation here. Instead they're hoping for a miracle: They envision an economic rebound that raises employment.

But there's no reason to think Illinois will be more competitive for jobs until it become more friendly to the businesses, small and large, that are free to choose where they'll locate or expand. Just look at the evidence: Many employers have been deciding since well before the current recession that they don't need more workers in Illinois.

Voters eager to reverse Illinois' lousy record of job creation need to elect public officials who'll address three areas of grave concern to potential employers:

• The nonpartisan Tax Foundation ranks Illinois' business tax climate as 30th in the U.S. for fiscal 2010, a drop of seven slots from fiscal 2009. The rankings reflect the tax policies that are of most importance to businesses in deciding where to operate or grow. Illinois got dismal marks for its high sales, unemployment insurance and property taxes.

• The Institute for Legal Reform, an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warns potential employers that Illinois has the nation's fifth-worst litigation climate for businesses. That ranking dooms Illinois to a losers' bracket with Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia.

• Illinois' most unattractive feature may be the mess its lawmakers have made of state finances -- the pattern of "Splurge. Borrow. Repeat." detailed in the second editorial of this series. Our officials talk of what they "need" in order to meet all the obligations they've created. Meanwhile, potential employers obviously are deciding they don't "need" to be in Illinois when the bills come due. Consider: If Illinois tax policy punishes employers today, imagine their tax costs when the state has to pay its big debts and meet its unfunded pension obligations.

Who'll want to be in business here then?

Suppose you're deciding where to locate a new factory. Would you invest your money, and your company's future, in a state whose leaders chronically run deficits, don't pay their bills, won't reform how they spend revenues by the billions -- and whose refusal to make costs match revenues earns a Moody's bond rating lower than every state but California? It's your company. Do you really want to bed it down next to a ticking time bomb that's sure to explode in the face of you and every other taxpayer?

-- -- --

The question for candidates isn't: How will you save state government? The question is: how will you save the state?

Government can't spend us back to prosperity. We need to redesign tax policy, streamline business regulations and fees, promote tort reform and -- most notably -- calm the chaos that reigns in state finances.

 

Special Editions of Dr. Bruce Yandle's Economic Situation Report

The December 2009 Edition of Dr. Bruce Yandle's Economic Situation Report is available by clicking on the following link:

http://www.strom.clemson.edu/teams/ced/esr/ESR_2009_12.pdf

You may download previous reports by clicking on the following link:

http://www.strom.clemson.edu/teams/ced/esr.html

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Upcoming Events

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Product Visualization Forum - February 24, 2009

Presented by Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology

The Product Visualization Community Forum Presented by the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology, will be held February 24, 2010 at the SiMT in Florence.

The forum is targeted at product development and product marketing professions, and the focus is helping them improve the effectiveness of communicating visually through 3D CAD, 3D virtual reality, and rapid prototyping technologies.

The SiMT is a very impressive facility with state of the art 3D CAD, 3D virtual reality, and rapid prototyping technologies. If you have not been to the SiMT, the tour of the facility alone will be work the day.

Terry Wohlers will be the keynote speaker. Terry is president of Wohlers Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm. In August 2007, Terry was voted the #1 most influential person in rapid product development and rapid manufacturing by TCT Magazine (UK) in its TCT Top 25 Influential People survey. More than 1,000 industry professionals from around the world voted. The results were published in the August issue of the magazine. More information about Wohlers can be found at his website.

 The Product Visualization Community Forum is targeted at product development and product marketing professions, and the focus is helping them improve the effectiveness of communicating visually through 3D CAD, 3D virtual reality, and rapid prototyping technologies.

Click here for more information and to register.

 

APICS LEAN Seminar - February 26, 2010

One Day Seminar, presented by:

APICS Industrial Crescent Chapter (Member of the Upstate Supply Chain Coalition) and The Adopt Lean Group of Greenville

When:

 Friday, February 26, 2010 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Where:

 Hilton Hotel on Orchard Park Drive in Greenville, SC

Registration:

$120 per person (prior to February 1) or $150 per person (after February 1)

Cost includes:

Presentations, Continental Breakfast (Fruits and Pastries), Lunch (Soup or Salad, Sandwich, and Desserts Buffet) and Afternoon Break Snacks

Visit www.apics-sc.org for Program Details and Registration

Agenda:

8:30am to 9:00am: Registration with Continental Breakfast Selections

9:00am to 9:50am: Dean Davidson (The Adopt Lean Group) - Lean 101: Learning to See

10:00am to 10:50am: Dean Davidson (The Adopt Lean Group) - Leading in a Lean Environment

11:00am to 11:30am: Lunch

11:30am to 12:20pm: Jeff Anderson (APICS Industrial Crescent Executive VP) – Overview of APICS Lean Enterprise Workshop

12:30pm to 1:20pm: Brian Corrao (Everest Partners) - Delivering Results through Supply Chain Partnerships

1:30pm to 2:20pm: Frank Murphy (Inventory Management Services) - Clean, Lean and Reliable: The New Standard for MRO Storerooms

2:30pm to 3:30pm: Tony Todd (Motivational Speaker & Industrial Professional) – It’s All About The Money!

 

Carolina Baja Event Captains Needed!

Engineers! If you have been a part of SAE at any point in time, you’re familiar with the competition events. SAE will be hosting the National BAJA competition in Greenville, SC, this year. We are looking for volunteers to help with the event.

Kim Larson handles placement of the BAJA volunteers.  She can be reached at volunteers@bajaSAEcarolina.com. 

The BAJA Event will be held April 8-11, 2010.

 

Click on the "Meetings" tab above to get details on professional societies meeting in the Upstate.

Don't miss out on opportunities to network and develop professionally!

And please feel free to reach out and connect via LinkedIn.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/garytompkins

http://www.linkedin.com/in/carlsharperson