Opinion

“Awake your senses that you may the better judge!” — Brutus

The NLBMDA makes the case for preservation of the mortgage interest deduction.

Microsoft paid more than $25 billion for LinkedIn. Here's another idea for Microsoft, or anyone else.

 

Sales were up big at Home Depot in the fourth quarter. One of the reasons, big sales.

Two-step distribution is riding a housing recovery for both LBM and hardware.

Sales gains and growth were the major themes of the HCN Top 300 Retailer and Top 200 Pro Dealer Scoreboards released earlier this year.

So it’s only logical that the HCN Top 100 Distributor Scoreboard shares in that growth, fueled by rising prices on certain products and a long awaited — though staggering and somewhat unreliable — housing market recovery.

Here's the situation when I was on the ladder.

• The ground under the garage gutter sloped hard from right to left.

• Plants prevented ideal positioning of the wobbly painter's ladder.

• And I was already tired from cleaning the gutters in the front of the house.

All the conditions were present for a classic weekend DIY accident.

Employee morale
The following is a response to the article, “Unhappy employees are staying put.”

“[Unhappy employees are] soon to be going, or at least when the economy improves — that’s when they will leave in droves because of extreme low pay and lack of respect from employers. Why wouldn’t they? No one likes being used or abused. Do you?”
— Rick Heath

The mayor of Washington, D.C., is considering a proposal that hike the miminum wage in the district for big retailers. 

The plan calls for a $12.50 minimum wage – well above the current $8.25 – for employees of companies with $1 billion or more in sales and stores measuring at least 75,000 square feet. 

Here’s how HCN readers weighed in: