Tom Anderson goes solo

[Colin]

Colin...its great, saves a ton of money and keeps me away from the fast food! Plus the meals are killer....BP hooks it up! Thanks and Kudo's BP, much appreciated!!

The SLO and Coachella offices are about 300-350 miles apart( 5 hours driving time) Their both in amazing area's.....SLO has such a great small/hometown feel to it,with college students everywhere. While here in the desert we have amazing weather(should be about 83 degree's today) great golf(although i haven't pulled the clubs out lately) and is in close proximity to Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas!!! Makes for great weekend trips.....

Sounds perfect, I shall put it on my list of places to visit when I come over

 

[GHWelles]

dealing with lawyers . . . can’t be much fun.

With respect,
Bruce

 

[candid_x]

Oh, sorry there, Mr. Dog. lol

 

[Pablo]

No doubt. My (retracted) response may have had something to do with my wife’s 10 years of extended hospital stays that drove me to the poor house. Such is life. It’s tough out there.

Without getting overly political, I have to say that sometimes I feel extremely lucky to be living in Denmark (despite the dreary weather):

My mother went in and out of hospiltals for 15 years before finally loosing her battle against cancer last year... throughout this period, both treatment and compensation for lost income was paid in full by the state. This, in turn, meant that we didn't have to worry about anything other than coming to terms with my mothers dissease initially, and our loss finally (a work in progress, I might add). In short: my dad didn't have to leave the house, and we didn't go into debt.

I know, our taxes are pretty much the highest in the world (around 60% for a middle class income), but concidering the fact that all expensens vis-à-vis education, pensions, health care and unemploiment are paid with that, I feel that it is more than a fair trade.

Cheers

Eske

 

[candid_x]

Without getting overly political, I have to say that sometimes I feel extremely lucky to be living in Denmark (despite the dreary weather):

My mother went in and out of hospiltals for 15 years before finally loosing her battle against cancer last year... throughout this period, both treatment and compensation for lost income was paid in full by the state. This, in turn, meant that we didn't have to worry about anything other than coming to terms with my mothers dissease initially, and our loss finally (a work in progress, I might add). In short: my dad didn't have to leave the house, and we didn't go into debt.

I know, our taxes are pretty much the highest in the world (around 60% for a middle class income), but concidering the fact that all expensens vis-à-vis education, pensions, health care and unemploiment are paid with that, I feel that it is more than a fair trade.

Cheers

Eske

Sorry for your loss. I'm also going to tread lightly here. I've stood on both sides of this issue at one time or another. I have a close friend in Holland. I see the pluses and minuses in each type of health care system. I myself am denied adequate health care for a degenerative heart condition, so I hear what you're saying.

 

[candid_x]

but..

there’s a dollar in my pocket
someone’s hungry so
the dollar goes to feed
it ain’t what ya got
that makes you rich or poor
but that it meets a need

you can never own what ya have
unless it’s really yours
and if it is
ya never can be poor

 

[CudBucket]

I was wondering what was keeping this thread growing. Sad how something we all love (guitars and their creation) ultimately is tied up to and affected by the things discussed here.

That's why I don't really get involved in those issues. I consider my self politically illiterate. Well maybe that's not entirely true, but I think you know what I mean.

I concern myself with that I can effect directly: I try to teach my children to be honest and considerate of their little friends. Hopefully, they keep some of that when they get older and run this place. See, I think that while we and those before us might have made some mistakes, we can do something about the next batch.

OK, that's over. Let's wish TAG all the best.

Dave

 

[mesavox]

kev down a notch on the politics.. Having served on the Board of Directors of Mattel Childrens Hospital at UCLA fior 8 years and also serving on the executive commitee for 9 years it is way deeper and more complex that homeless joe and 8 dollar tylenols......

I just have to say thanks for that post. I'm a bit of a history buff, and tracking the reform movement of the late 19th century and comparing what might have been minus that movment.... I'd say our healthcare system at it's worst is a million times better than what people had to deal with during the infancy of the industrial age. I'm not so sure the crux of the problem doesn't go back to 74 and the removal of the dollar's connection to gold as it's value backing. Interesting that politically, that is a bipartizan thing that both dems and repubs supported throughout history. I.e. it's not really a political problem at all....

Relating to today, we are suffering the long term drawbacks to FDR's solutions to the great depression. It was WWII that brought us out of the great depression, not either of the "new deals." Those programs designed to fix that problem caused problems that were unrealized until recently. Social Security? Well, a lot of baby boomers are retiring and there are not enough people to pay for them. Backlash? More money out of the average Joe's check that he really can't afford to lose. Value of the dollar? Well, Greenspan was more powerful than any president has ever hoped to be. The kicker is the government's complete tilt to the pro-big buisiness side of the fence. Pre WWII the gov had been very low key. In fact, pre Spanish American war the gov was a no involvement period entity where business was concerned. There's that reform again. It needed to get involved, but there are tradeoffs, and as the post I quoted demonstrates... balance is the key. It's not that anything is THAT wrong... it's that a good balance doens't exist on every front yet.

Because of the New Deal's shifting towards pro big biz, smaller companies like Anderson Guitar Works and Ernie Ball have a tough road even in the best of times. Minimum Wage is already high enough to put a crunch on small businesses (payroll is the toughest financial strain on any small biz), yet the higher min wage is, the more those companies have customers. Viscious circle. Taxes are also too flat.. both for individuals and companies. The less income, the more the taxes affect you... That is a direct result of the New Deal point of view. Reagan and the Reps didn't invent this... lol The 80s were not Reaganomics... the were Rooseveltomics. lol

In any case, just like the war in Iraq is far from anything new (From Guantanamo Bay, to the excuses for the war, it's all been done before, even by people we look back on as geniouses such as Lincoln and TDR), our current financial state in this nation is nothing new.

Unfortunately, I have too strong a feeling that Tom is taking a huge personal loss in this downsizing step. He will have to liquidate all the extra capital that his former employees utilized. That doesn't sound bad except that he will not get what he paid for for that equipment. If his working capital is free and clear, he might not have any debt to speak of, which is what I suspect since it seems that his future is managable with this step. He says the company was not upside down, so this is a loss cutting step I'd imagine. Between the stress, lawyers, payroll, etc. etc. I'd say that he saw exactly what is around the corner. Hopefully everything will work out.

I wish Tom well... Andersons are the only other guitars I can think of that feel as good in my hands as Music Mans. I hope they continue to exist for a long time to come.