There have been plenty of signals that the US economy is in recovery mode. Housing prices seem to have stabilized, the stock market has regained a lot of ground, some companies have reported better than expected earnings, some steel companies are starting some operations back up – yet amongst all this, unemployment is still way up, other industries such as paper mills continue to close up shops, thousands more workers are being laid off and the expected key point of President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight will be job creation. So, are we truly in a recovery? Or is this just a temporary upswing to be followed by another crash? Compared to recessions in the past few decades, this one seems to be clouded in unprecedented ways. So many conflicting indicators and opinions – which seem to prolong skepticism, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sometimes, you just need to respond to an article you read. “Commentators” of a report issued by the Earth Policy Institute believe it is likely that Americans are starting to lose their love for their cars. Apparently, the American auto fleet contracted by 2% this last year and according to those commentators, it’s a sure sign of a continued and prolonged contraction. They are totally forgetting that the US government deleted 750,000 vehicles from the fleet with “Cash for Clunkers” and that we have witnessed the worst recession in decades, causing many people to put off buying not only cars but many other high ticket items. The only reason we could see a continued contraction for now is the reluctance to open up the purse strings until there are much better signs that the recession is behind us. Wishful thinking is what it is and nothing more. The love affair is very likely to continue as soon as the economy stabilizes – whether that’s good in your book or bad, it’s still the most likely answer.

Could California’s model beverage container recycling program be in jeopardy of collapsing? According to a lawsuit brought by several local recycling companies, that’s exactly what will happen if the state doesn’t repay into the fund money previously borrowed for other expenses. This just shows the difficulty of recycling plastic economically when a state with the volume of plastic like California struggles to make it work.

If a government is going to commit to back the recycling of plastic, they better stay in the game. Without the local recyclers and the redemption fund as a subsidy, where will all that plastic go? Outside companies aren’t going to want to be involved because they would already face higher transportation costs and the prospect of not getting their money from the state. Arnold better think carefully about this issue or he could become really unpopular very fast.

The good thing about a truly global market is that it raises the standard of living all around. Richer countries get goods at a cheaper price and poorer countries create more jobs and more competition in their countries and thus, over time, better paying jobs and a better educated people. So, why not just open up all borders of all countries for unrestricted trade? Wouldn’t that in the long run make us all better off? In a world where everyone plays fair, yes.

Unfortunately, some end up taking advantage of the situation and engage in the practice of “dumping.”  China tends to be one country that resorts to dumping, the practice of over-producing goods and selling the excess on the open market at prices well below the competing nations’ products. Their cost of goods is significantly less because they pay their people so much less, which makes competing with them on price on a commodity product impossible.

That’s why, at times, it is good to have a government agency impose duties or tariffs on imported items such as was recently implemented by the United States International Trade Commission against Chinese oil country tubular goods (steel pipe used primarily in the oil and gas industries). Hopefully, the firms affected by this will be able to leverage this decision in constructive ways to build their businesses to be more competitive in the international markets.