Thank you to my loyal readers who have been sending me news updates.  Clearly, I have been a negligent blogger and have not been posting as frequently as a devoted blogger might.  Truth is, I've been really busy with work stuff...and that is a good thing.  Throw in things like going to my kid's Choir Concert  and I've lost some evening time too.  Then, (and this is big) I've had to devote additional time to my fantasy football team as I have made it to the Super Bowl of my fantasy league.  It takes place this weekend and with injuries, etc., I've really had to devote some quality time to the "Land Hammers" franchise.  Now, don't go stealing the name for your team.

So, back to fastener news.  First, I think the fact that I have been extremely busy since the Las Vegas Fastener Show is just great.  Last December, everybody was dead.  None of my customers were busy and business was coming to a screeching halt leading up to 2009 which has pretty much been one of the worst years in recent fastener history.  It is refreshing to be this busy.

Yes, yes, yes...Nucor is back in the news as they appealed the unanimous decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission that rejected their petition for antidumping and countervailing tariffs.  Nucor's attorney argued that U.S. production and capacity utilization decreased by 50% and Chinese and Taiwanese imports grew to 56% of the market by "pervasively underselling U.S. fasteners by significant margins".  All the publications have come out with the details and you can look up that information on some of those news sites (many of which are listed to the left of this column you are reading).  Let's face it.  We all knew this was coming.  There is no surprise here.  The bigger surprise is that the petition was beaten down with a 6-0 decision.  I sell import products and I sell domestic products.  And, in case you did not know, I'm a good ol', red blooded American Boy.  I'd love to see domestic manufacturers do better, stop closing and provide more jobs.  I also recognize the value of some of the lower priced import products that we buy and sell and, in the end, give us many products that are lower in cost.  But, if anyone, including the government, is going to try to tell me that the domestic manufacturers have not been hurt by the importers then they are just flat our nuts.  We know it, they know it, the world knows it.  I guess it must come down to how bad have they been hurt and what is a fair and just resolution.  Maybe Nucor was not asking for a reasonable resolution.  Others can figure that out.  But, just using our common sense we know there has been SOME kind of affect.

Next subject - the Las Vegas Fastener Show.  In 2011 it will move down the strip to the Sands convention center and it will be in October, not November.  For those who do not attend the STAFDA show, I will tell you that it will overlap with the Vegas show in 2010.  That is a problem for a lot of companies that exhibit in both.  The Fastener Show is in Vegas and STAFDA is in Phoenix and a few of the dates overlap.  By moving to October, these conflicts should go away in future years.  Folks, that's about all I will say about that right now.  Feel free to write in with your own thoughts including my friends from the Fastener Shows.  If you would like to share how you chose the Sands or the time of year I would be more than happy to publish all that.  I do think that folks in the fastener industry would like to hear more and please use this site as a platform.

Also, I'd like to hear more about how the Columbus show is coming along.  And, I have not heard from anyone at the All American Show and I'd like to hear an update on that or any other regional show.

Promise to write more often in the future.  There is a lot going on.  I suspect that acquisitions will increase and I just read where HD Supply is closing 350 branches.  HD Supply is not exactly a fastener house but it is industrial supply and that is a close relative to the fastener house, relatively speaking.

Happy Holidays.  Keep plugging because we hold the world together!