Rubbermaid sees its future as innovation + premium prices

Newell Rubbermaid Inc. plans to trim its product line — eliminating low-end plastic storage containers, trash cans and office chair mats — in favor of high-end, innovative products. The company “plans to invest more heavily in research and advertising for more-innovative products,” according to a Wall Street Journal article, aptly headlined: “Rubbermaid Wants to Be Less of a Commodity” (16 July 2008). The innovative products include containers for fruits and vegetables with vented lids to keep those foods fresher.

The primary reason for trimming the low-end of the product line is the rising cost of the petrochemical-based resin used for making plastic products.

State experiments with the four-day work week

Utah became the first U.S. state to put its government workforce on a four-day work week, and some other states may follow. The “Working 4 Utah” initiative — a response to soaring energy costs and tight budgets — will begin in August.

Government service hours will be extended to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and offices will be closed Fridays (except for essential public services).

Utah expects to cut electrical and utility costs (13.5 hours on Fridays) and will monitor the energy savings. For employees, it may mean they can get household chores done on Fridays, according to Workforce Management (14 July 2008). But day care and public transportation services will need to accommodate the extended hours (10-hour work days) Monday through Thursday.

State officials in Minnesota, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Arkansas are examining the feasibility of a four-day schedule, Workforce Management reported. Also, Colorado is mulling it over. Various county governments and towns are, too.

Our fragile infrastructure

Friday the 13th was a traffic and commuting nightmare in the center of Washington, D.C. A power outage in the neighborhood of the White House, plus two fires along the subway tracks, created a traffic mess. Few intersections had traffic police to sort out the traffic chaos. Electricity was cut to scores of office buildings and several subway stations. Subway patrons were trapped in dark tunnels, but subway officials had no flashlights to hand out. New emergency backup generators weren’t used. Three pedestrians were hit by cars where traffic lights were out.

In other words: total bedlam. Emergency response was terrible. Communications was poor.

No terrorism was involved.

As The Washington Post (14 June 2008) put it:

A single switch in a Pepco substation failed yesterday morning, cutting power to the heart of the nation’s capital, including the White House and downtown offices. The outage shut down Metro stations, threw rush-hour traffic into a state of bedlam and highlighted how vulnerable the city can be.

“It was like each man for himself. Trucks were pulling out in front of buses; people were on the street. It was like a Third World country,” said David Zaidain, 34, a city planner who was stunned by the level of anarchy he encountered while walking to work along Ninth Street NW. “We’re living under this veil of potential terror, and this is how the city responds to something like this?”

‘Bad Roomba, Bad Roomba’

In some households, Fido is attacking the family’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, according to an article headlined “When Dogs and Robots Collide, Somebody Needs a Talking To.” Real attacks, with barking, snarling, teeth marks and everything. Perhaps it’s a territorial thing. It’s an example of how we still have some kinks to work out in the colocation of robots, humans and their pets. There’s even an online forum for Roomba owners to swap tales and advice about Roomba/pet interaction.

The most popular advice: “Chastise the vacuum in front of the dog,” the article says. You shake your finger at the robot and sternly say, “Bad Roomba.” After that, the dog never nips at it again, one customer says.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal 11 June 2008

Related:
Stanford researchers trying to develop robot like the Jetson’s Rosie

Time for a national infrastructure bank?

Douglas Rediker and Heidi Crebo-Rediker at the New America Foundation have released a policy paper suggesting a novel way to fund improvements in America’s crumbling infrastructure. They recommend two financing initiatives (beyond direct government grants):

[W]hile we have enormous infrastructure financing needs, there are also enormous pools of capital available for investment. The trick is to bring the two together in a commercial, sustainable, and politically acceptable way.

First, we suggest the enactment of legislation and the development of regulations to facilitate the origination and issuance of public sector covered bonds in the United States, which will provide a market-based, efficient, and secure mechanism to attract capital for infrastructure investment.

Second, along the lines of a proposal by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) last year, we recommend that the federal government consider the creation of a new, government-owned and -capitalized infrastructure financing entity — a National Infrastructure Finance Enterprise — that would pool, package, and sell existing and future public infrastructure securities in the capital markets. The proposed entity would also seek to develop an in-house capability to originate infrastructure loans and would be able to fund itself through the international capital markets. We believe that the entity should be capitalized at a far higher level than proposed in the DeLauro bill. Further, its scope should extend beyond that of the National Infrastructure Bank as currently proposed by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE).

The need for much greater investment in U.S. infrastructure should be obvious. But if you’re new to this issue, here’s the intro:

America’s basic infrastructure is outdated, worn, and in some cases, failing. Most experts agree that it is inadequate for meeting the demands of the 21st-century global economy. If we are to remain competitive, we must invest in capital assets like roads, ports, bridges, mass transit, water systems, and broadband infrastructure. Many other countries — both rich and poor — see investing in infrastructure as imperative for economic survival and success in an increasingly competitive economic environment. But the United States has lagged in infrastructure investment, in both relative and absolute terms. We are spending less than 2 percent of GDP on infrastructure, while China and India are spending 9 percent and 5 percent of GDP, respectively.

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Related: Rebuilding and Renewing America: Toward a 21st Century Infrastructure Investment Plan (Wilson Center event summary)

Update: (23 February 2009) NYTimes.com Op-Ed columnist Bob Herbert on the need for a U.S. infrastructure bank: http://idek.net/3RJ (via @michaelgoldberg)