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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: twmoore who wrote (206825)	3/31/2011 4:25:13 PM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361428

Bad luck for Tigers today. Used to live in Lakeland, their spring training home. Went to some of their big steak and beer parties.

To: twmoore who wrote (206825)	5/15/2011 3:49:47 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361428

“Ernie” is a Tiger tale worth a trip to Detroit suntimes.com

To: twmoore who wrote (206825)	5/22/2011 7:38:49 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361428

Is Michigan ready for manufacturing's comeback? freep.com By Ron Dzwonkowski The Detroit Free Press 11:47 PM, May. 21, 2011 You know how hard it is to buy stuff that's made in America, not by cheap labor in China? Well, that's going to change by 2015 as Chinese wages soar. The result will be a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. All this according to a new analysis by the Boston Consulting Group, a respected and worldwide business strategy firm. The attention-getting projection from BCG is rooted in simple mathematics, said Hal Sirkin, senior partner and managing director in the firm's Chicago office. "A lot of this is about wages and productivity," he said. "And then there is transportation. ... The trends are that the U.S. will look a lot more attractive for manufacturers to locate or expand." Michigan, which prospered in the heyday of American manufacturing and sank in part because so much factory work was outsourced to cheaper foreign producers, had better be ready to reclaim a piece of the action. Competition among states will be fierce. The BCG study shows that manufacturing wages in China are going up 17% a year on average. But productivity is stagnant and will stay so. Meanwhile, productivity among American workers was up about 2.5% last year. So the U.S. is doing more with less, while China is doing about the same with more. Although the two nations' pay scales will remain far apart, costs in China are on track to where the economics of making such things as household appliances and construction equipment for export to the U.S. won't add up, the BCG study said. "Since wage rates account for 20%-30% of a product's total cost, manufacturing in China will be only 10%-15% cheaper than in the U.S. -- even before inventory and shipping costs are considered. After those costs are factored in, the total cost advantage will drop to single digits or be erased entirely," the company said in a news release. Sirkin, interviewed by telephone Monday while traveling on business in Turkey, said markets in Asia and Europe will still likely inhale products made in China, but goods marketed in North America will increasingly be homemade. "It will be easier to find things made in America," he said. But where in America? "States with flexible work rules and a host of government incentives" will be most attractive to manufacturers/employers, BCG says, naming Mississippi, South Carolina and Alabama as examples. Unlike Michigan, all three are among the 22 right-to-work states in the U.S., meaning no compulsory union membership or dues. Gov. Rick Snyder has said he is not interested in taking on that issue in Michigan. Snyder also dislikes special incentives for favored companies or industries. So where's that leave us when manufacturers start to bail on China and begin "inshoring" work? Well, there's something to be said for stability. Money, as they say, runs from trouble. So if Snyder and his SEAL Team of CPAs can really get the state's fiscal house shipshape, that might get some attention. If the once-teetering auto industry stays on track, that will be a draw for parts makers, too. Proximity matters. So do infrastructure, taxes and access to other means of transportation. "Businesses look at many different things," Sirkin said. He said Michigan's abundance of empty buildings that once housed the nation's most productive workers could be an asset if they are in usable shape. And by 2015, unfortunately, Michigan will still probably have thousands of those workers available, eager to show manufacturers just how productive they can be. *Ron Dzwonkowski is Associate Editor of the Free Press. Contact him: 313-222-6635 or rdzwonkowski@freepress.com.

To: twmoore who wrote (206825)	6/14/2011 10:20:03 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361428

Detroit Tigers take sole possession of first in AL Central on Justin Verlander's shutout By David Mayo The Grand Rapids Press Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 10:10 PM DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander flirted yet again with a no-hitter Tuesday before settling for a two-hit, 4-0 win over the Cleveland Indians which pushed his team into sole possession of first place in the American League Central for the first time this season. Verlander didn't allow a hit for 7 1/3 innings, before Orlando Cabrera's sharp single to center field broke up the bid. Cabrera flipped his bat en route to first base. By the time he got there, a Comerica Park crowd of 28,128 already had begun rising to its feet to applaud Verlander's performance. The complete game was the third by a Tigers pitcher this season, all by Verlander. Verlander already has two career no-hitters, including one May 7 at Toronto which started a sizzling streak in which the 28-year-old has won his last six decisions. During that stretch, Verlander -- who improved to 8-3 with a 2.66 ERA with the victory -- has allowed 13 runs in 63 2/3 innings, with nine walks and 54 strikeouts. Tuesday's 12-strikeout performance marked Verlander's eighth quality start in his last nine outings. He has pitched six-plus innings in all 15 starts this season. The Tigers, who spent the last three days in a virtual standings deadlock with the Indians – but trailing them, by a fraction of a percentage point – roared into a one-game lead just 22 days after trailing Cleveland by seven games. But Cleveland lost its penchant for timely hitting, just as the Tigers began to find themselves offensively and flex their showcase pitching rotation, and the resultant juxtaposition in the AL Central standings came with surprising swiftness. The Tigers gave Verlander all the support he needed during a three-run third inning in which they batted around. The Tigers loaded the bases when Austin Jackson singled, Don Kelly reached on a routine pop which second baseman Orlando Cabrera mishandled for an error, and Brennan Boesch's pop was lost in the sun by left fielder Travis Buck. Miguel Cabrera's sacrifice fly scored Jackson. After Victor Martinez walked, Andy Dirks' single drove in Kelly, and Alex Avila's sacrifice fly scored Boesch to make it 3-0. The Tigers added a seventh-inning run on singles by Miguel Cabrera, Martinez and Dirks. Carlos Santana's single with two outs in the ninth inning made him Cleveland's fourth and final baserunner, none of whom advanced past first base. © 2011 MLive.com.