Economic Blast
Consumer Confidence Index, which hada sharp increase in October, declined slightly for November. The CCI dropped from 94.1 in October to 88.7 for November, according to the Conference Board survey.
The U.S. economy is showing signs of expansion as the GDP for the third quarter rose to 3.9% growth! After a 4.6% increase in the second quarter, this made the largest back-to-back advance since late 2003.
Quotable
"If you are going through hell, keep going"- Sir Winston Churchill
Ramp/Dock Report: December 2014
Black Friday spending tumbled an estimated 11% from the same weekend a year ago! The National Retail Federation estimates that more than 6 million 'expected' shoppers just did not show up! Cyber Monday and other e-commerce sales may have added to the sluggish weekend sales numbers.
West Coast port congestion continues as do the negotiations between Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, with neither looking as if there will be a solution soon! ILWU negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association began again on December 2, but the "perfect storm" of structural problems at US West Coast ports could mean congestion is here to stay for the near future.
FTR Associates, a Bloomington, Indiana research firm, predicts "a very tough operating environment in early 2015" for U.S. shippers dependent on using congested ports. Unions must realize that fixed productive assets, including ports, can only be held hostage temporarily in the modern global supply chain. Trade will bypass the west coast if it becomes too risky, inflexible or expensive.
Regardless of how negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) go the damage may already have been done. Research that was conducted almost two years ago found that over half of supply chain executives (57%)planned to re-shore at least some of their manufacturing with the biggest winner of new capacity being Mexico.
Lessons from the Past
Winston Churchill did not know it at the time he made this now famousquote, featured to the left, but the lives of many Americans during the Second World War (WWII) did exactly that! Having recently finished an audio book, "Unbroken" by the author of the highly acclaimed book "Seabiscuit", Laura Hillenbrand, you are introduced to one of the greatest stories of self-preservation ever known. Louis "Louie" Zamperini went from a wild child, growing up in Torrance, California to a gifted track athlete at USC, to a competitor in the 1936 Berlin Olympics!
Soon after WWII broke out, Louie joined the Army Air Corps and earned the rank of Lieutenant and served as a bombardier on a B-24 bomber over the Pacific. He survived for 47 days in a small life raft after his plane went down in the pacific only to drift 2000 miles west and be captured by the Japanese and interred at a POW camp for over 2 years. He was constantly tortured and beaten and neared death at the hands of his tormentor, nicknamed, "the Bird". Louie somehow survived and at the war's end was ultimately returned to the U.S. and recovered physically but had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which tormented him with thoughts of the POW torture.
Louie's life in Southern California was is turmoil and he became a heavy drinker often with fits of rage. He did fall in love with Cynthia Applewhite and they married. Louie's behavior got worse and Cynthia convinced him to attend a crusade led by a charismatic young evangelist named Billy Graham. The rest is history, while listening to Graham, Louie remembered that while on the life raft he prayed that if God would save him he would devote his life to Him! So be it! Louie's life was devoted to helping others as he travelled the world sharing his story of redemption.
Please plan on seeing the story as the movie, "Unbroken", directed by Angelina Jolie, opens nationwide on December 25th! You will not be disappointed in a true story of hope and redemption!