washington business
manufacturing, there’s no question the
drought in the Midwest will help our crop
growers, which helps manufacturers who
equip the ag business.
wb: Thinking about your own company,
which statement do you most agree with or
is closest to your opinion:
• y company is now operating from a
M
standpoint that there is enough economic opportunity in the market today to
expand, grow or hire new workers.
• here is too much economic uncertainty
T
in the market today for my company to
expand, grow or hire new workers.
dias: Well, it’s sad because I have to answer
the first, but I think the caveat is that because
of the fiscal policy and uncertainty at the
federal level, I think there’s a lot of cash on
the sidelines that’s waiting and poised for
capital equipment that would create jobs.
wb: Thinking about your business and the
employees. We found during the time we
spent with the economy in the doldrums,
we cross-trained our people. We took those
same employees; we were able to get back
to revenues that were average for our company with those fewer employees. The
hiring we’ve done — and we have done
some — has been because of replacement
and attrition, not necessarily because we’re
chasing new revenues.
final thought: I’m guardedly optimistic, but I don’t see any reason to panic. The
concern is with a three-and-a-half year
bull market, there’s got to be a correction
to the financial markets. But interest rates,
from what I’ve seen, are probably going to
remain low, which is good for business.
Not on the investing side, but if a company does borrow it keeps your overall
costs down.
current economic climate, have you had to
make or considered making sacrifices you
normall