Bud Hatfield, who has more than thirty years experience in the circuit board industry, is back at Champions. He is one man who has done virtually every job in the shop, except pre-production engineering. Bud comes back to us to supervise the operation of our water treatment plant and as a consultant on quality matters.

He will report to Andy DuBose, our executive vice president, and to the president on quality issues. We welcome him back.

And some things make your month! What we're referring to is a completely unsolicited testimonial that was sent to Christina in inside sales. We are not naming the customer because we didn't get permission to do so. Nor did we ask. Nevertheless, we hope you'll take our word that we didn't make this up. Frankly, we don't think we could have written one as good.

After acknowledging receipt of an e-mail, the message continued:

"Just a note to you and your company. I like to use Champions because of the service. I have always received a good product at a reasonable cost. That has only been one part of the equation. I know I can count on your delivery. So far, your company has never let me down. In fact, most of the time it is slightly ahead of the promised delivery date."

Talk about a heart-warming message. We're still walking on air and high-fiveing every employee who comes near enough. Our sincere thanks to the customer. May we never disappoint you!

The Consumer Confidence Board's announcement of the August index made us feel pretty good also. After deteriorating to a dismal 77.0 in July, it jumped to 81.3 in August. In addition, the Expectations Index increased from 86.3 to 94.4. The Director of the Boards' Research Center said:

"The welcome bounce back in confidence this month was entirely due to consumers' increasing optimism about the future. Growing optimism about the economy over the next six months echoes the latest gain in the Board's Leading Economic Index. However, continued optimism will depend on positive developments in the labor market."

We did have an unexpected increase in loss of jobs in the month, but consumers expecting the job market to improve in the coming months increased to 18.0 from 16.6 percent. And the consumers claiming jobs are plentiful increased to 11.1 percent from 10.7 percent.

We're also hearing some good things from our customers on their expectations about increased business. We've had several customers tell us over the past couple of weeks that they think things are beginning to look up for their businesses. This, of course, is the source of our bread and butter, so we love to hear these things. If anyone can contribute to our local expectations outlook, we'd sure like to hear about it.

On the Lighter Side

We're making a slight departure from our original plan for this side of the page. We didn't get many really good ones from the customers, so this month's best doesn't get any money because it was contributed by Sir Kit's spouse, but we love some of these things:

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." ~ Mark Twain

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." ~ Winston Churchill

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." ~ George Bernard Shaw

"A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." James Bovard

~ Civil Libertarian (1994)

"Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries." ~ Douglas Casey, Classmate of W. J. Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." ~ P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."

~ Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." ~ Ronald Reagan (1986)

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. ~ Will Rogers

"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. ~ P.J. O'Rourke

"There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress." ~ Mark Twain

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one part of the citizenry to give to the other." ~ Voltaire (1764)

" What this country needs are more unemployed politicians."

~ Edward Langley, Artist 1928-1995

"No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session." ~ Mark Twain (1866)

"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other." ~ Ronald Reagan

Let me hear from you -- Sir Kit Bored