What a year was 2009! It was a remarkable year that many people will always remember for either good or bad. It was the year when Barack H. Obama, the son of an African father and a white American mother, was sworn in to the highest office in the USA – the most powerful nation on earth.

This event is simply epoch making in a country that gave us the commercial awnings gas stations and lynching of the Blacks in America just a half century earlier when boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) had won the gold medal in summer Olympic in Rome. Winning an Olympic Gold Medal for the USA by a talented Black athlete in 1960, 1964 and 1968 was an easier task than being recognized as an equal by a fellow white American. Ali learned it the hard way when he was refused service at a “whites-only” restaurant.

After protesting such a naked display of racism and fighting with a white gang of hoodlums he threw that medal into the Ohio River. That is how worthless that coveted gold medal counted to the greatest boxer of all times!

So, by most accounts, 2009 will go down in history as a year of change, and hopefully, for the better. The year ushered in the hard-won belief that “business as usual” was no longer an option that America could afford. She needed a new direction under a new chief – wiser and courageous.

As we say sayonara or goodbye to 2009, we may like to ponder the changes that had taken place since awnings for commercial buildings. That year, William Taft had taken the reign of the US government from Teddy Roosevelt. It was the year when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed.

The average life expectancy back then was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the American households had a bathtub, only eight percent of homes had telephones, canopy for gas station, and the fuel for car used to be sold in drugstores. There were no band-aids, bikinis, yoga pants and tops, bubble gums, blenders, homecoming dresses, ballpoint pens, diapers, hair dryers, milk cartons, sunglasses, shopping carts, traffic lights, toasters and zippers. There were only 144 miles of paved roads in the USA for some 8000 cars that were limited to drive at a maximum speed of 10 MPH.

Ford, the only automaker, had rolled in its T-Ford, the “Tin Lizzie” model, from the assembly line. There was no Sears Tower (to be designed later by a Bangladeshi American Architect – Dr. Fazlur Rahman Khan) then, and only the Eiffel Tower, which was the tallest structure in the world, and that, too, in France, and not in the USA. A postage stamp cost two cents.

The average wage was only 22 cents per hour; but that was sufficient for most wage earners to take care of their families. A dozen of eggs cost only 14 cents (it now costs more than a dollar in most places), sugar was available at four cents per pound, and coffee was 15 cents a pound. One in five Americans had domestic help or servants. In 1909, twenty percent of the population could not read or write. Only 6% of the American population had a high school education.

Water was not so readily available and as such most Americans could not afford to take bath or wash their black dresses for women everyday. There was no shampoo. Women washed their hair with either Borax or egg-yolks once a month. The American culture was not so consumer-market driven as it is today. As such, there was no mother’s day, father’s day, boss’s day and the secretary’s day in those days.

The average American worker made somewhere between 200 and 400 dollars a year back in 1909. In 1909, of all the engineers, the mechanical engineers were expected to earn the most - $5000 per year (now chemical engineers are best paid). A veterinarian was expected to earn anywhere between $1500 and $4000 a year. There were few hospitals and more than 95% of births took place at home.

Most of the doctors (some 90%) had no formal college education and had only learned rudimentary medical knowledge from some schools. The five leading causes of deaths were pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, diarrhea, heat disease and strokes. Penicillin was not yet invented, but the German Researcher Paul Enrich had just found a cure for syphilis. Marijuana and heroin were not illegal and could be found all over the counter at the local drugstore. In 1909, there were only 45 stars in the US flag (and not 50). Leisure time was not spent in front of the TVs, but with family members in picnics, baseball games, horse-riding and sitting around the piano.

Back in 1909, there were only 1.7 billion people in our planet. Today, we have almost four times that number. Back then the population of Las Vegas – a.k.a. the Sin City – was only 30. There were only 230 reported cases of murder in the entire USA. Today, most major cities like Philadelphia have almost double that number in homicide.

Fast forward to 2009. With the economic meltdown in the Wall Street, 2009, saw one of the worst economic problems of our time, creating a ripple effect everywhere. Ten million Americans are without job today, even after the economic stimulus package. The band-aid measures taken thus far by the Obama administration to infuse life into the faltering economy have not done any miracle that the people had hoped for with the change of organic cotton night shirts womens in the White House.

It is, however, obvious that President Obama is taking a long term strategy towards bringing in a fundamental change to institutions where it matters. He is putting money in the education sector and into science programs so that years from now Americans would be better positioned to avoid such an economic mess in the future and would have the right ingredients to do the right things. For the first time in many decades the health reform bill passed the Senate.

So how will 2010 look like? I am not into the prediction business. But I believe that Igor Panarin, a former KGB analyst, currently the dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s academy for future diplomats, will be proven wrong. In case you are wondering, Panarin predicted that the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. No matter how bad the American economy is, the USA is in no position to fall apart. Economic recovery will be a very slow one.

Thus, it is easy to guess that the Democrats will lose quite a few seats within the US Congress in the 2010 mid-term election. Unless something miraculously wrong happens, which shows the current Obama administration totally ill-prepared, Democrats are expected to retain a majority in the both Houses. This, in spite of all the hysterical blabbering from war criminals like Cheney!

With such negatives in the American horizon though, it may be too tempting for some comfortable cotton bras for a cups people and Obama-insiders or advisers to sell the idea of going to war with Iran as an option. But that decision would be totally irresponsible and almost suicidal. A war with Iran will not only weaken Obama administration inside America, thus losing its liberal and anti-war support base that make up the majority, but the move will surely put a final nail in the coffin of free market economy. It will also evaporate the tremendous support and trust that Obama enjoys today outside. He will also do the greatest disservice and harm to the very Nobel Prize for Peace that was bestowed on him this year.

I also believe that terrorism of all sorts – state, individual and non-governmental – will continue to play a big role in our world. America has to revise its entire program around terrorism and come up with time-honored solutions that are scientific and feasible from both short- and long-term perspectives. American troops will remain, as already announced, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. And as such, economy may not regain the necessary health required to show a positive upturn.

Happy New Year! May this year be a better one than the one that passed us by!

It seems that everywhere you go in Mooresville, or really the entire Charlotte area for that matter, you always seem to run into somebody who works in racing. Those of you who read this blog that live in and around Charlotte will know what I’m talking about canopy for gasoline station. And maybe it is something that shouldn’t surprise me with as big of a community as NASCAR is and how concentrated the area is with racing people, but it always does.

I was out with my significant other recently, and as we walked into the restaurant for a nice dinner, I spotted a very well known Cup Series crew chief. He was out with his family and blending in quite nicely. Shockingly enough , he wasn’t decked out head to toe in his race gear (we do have normal clothes too), so I doubt anybody even recognized who he was. I wonder though, if certain folks were out and about in other cities near canopies for gas stations if they would be recognized.

After thinking about this, and wondering about these guys being recognized, I’ve come to believe there are probably two types of people in Charlotte. There are those who are into racing, car wash buildings, recognize people, but leave them alone and let them be normal people. And the rest aren’t into racing and are clueless to those around them. I guess maybe there is a third group who do approach these guys, but I’m guessing it’s small.

In Mooresville specifically, it seems that you run into or see somebody all the time. From seeing NASCAR gas station canopies officials in the Target store, to filling up at the gas station next to a driver, or running into another crew buddy at a bar. Even when we are away from the track, we can’t stay away from one another!

I would imagine that being in certain places in Los Angeles would warrant similar sightings for actors, as would hanging out in Nashville for
California modular company. If you want to be in or around NASCAR, Charlotte is the center of the Universe.

So if you don’t live here, and happen to make it once to attend a race or visit some shops, here is some advice. When you are out and about, keep your eyes peeled, because you never know who you might see or run into! Just remember to be respectful.

he Matiya Patidar Center on Pioneer Blvd. here was the colorful setting last week for a ten-day celebration of Indian artwork, handicrafts, womens clothing comfortable and even high-end marble works as shoppers browsed among vendors who had come from India as part of a series of festivals scheduled throughout the United States.

Indian Consul General in San Francisco Susmita Thomas and her husband Ravi visited the festival Dec. 26 to show their enthusiastic support.

“I’d like to take the time to thank the organizers, including Kulbhushan Johar, for putting together this exhibition at a very appropriate time just before Christmas so that people can pick up items for their loved ones which remind them of home in India and also brings home some revenue, which serves a dual purpose,” Thomas said.

In speaking to the gathering, the consul general encouraged Indian vendors to bring the best quality products from India, because it is often the first impression that has the most impact.

“India has wonderful textiles for organic cotton night shirts womens, some of the best in the world, and people need to know this by what we exhibit,” she said.

Furthermore, the packaging of products from India “has to be upgraded 100 percent,” she said, pointing out various Japanese products that often sell for a dollar has packaging that appears to be worth three or four dollars.

“We need to develop a strategy which shows the recipients (around the world) of our products that comfortable cotton bras for a cups is high end,” she emphasized.

Thomas closed by wishing a very successful season to all of the festival participants wherever they may visit on their tour and a very happy and prosperous New Year to everyone.

Kulbhushan Johar and Gautam Khanna, the two main organizers of the event, which took place Dec. 17-27, later told India-West that as family friends they were inspired to bring the “US-India Shopping Festival” to the United States after it had been successfully touring the world for the last 16 years.

“Next year, we’re planning four or five new shows,” said Johar, adding that the Indian directors of the festival, Kapil Khanna and Sumit Khanna, will be assisting in organizing future shows in Fresno, Las Vegas and San Diego.

Johar’s own Marmonite USA Inc., a marble company in Anaheim, had an impressive display of some of the exquisite Indian marble used in coffee tables and home fountains.

“Indian marble is some of the best in the world, and no other marble has that pure white look to it,” he said.

Ziaur Rahman of Shanti Impex sold beautiful comfortable fitting bras products from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan during the festival, and has been with the exhibition in various parts of the world.

“We do well with these items, and they are very popular,” he told India-West, pointing out that most of the items are made for export.

A. Singh of Lavanya Overseas, who had a booth with a colorful selection of salwars, said he enjoyed visiting Southern California, but his favorite city on the tour was Trinidad. “I like the Caribbean, and we get lots of tourists there, and the country is also 40 percent Indians,” he said.

Shri Mahindra, who sold shoes and comfortable womens bras, commented that he really liked this festival market because “the people come and they’re real buyers, which is important. They don’t just look. They come and spend time here, so I wish to come again and again.”

During a dinner provided by Ashoka Restaurant in Artesia in honor of the consul general, who was given a plaque of appreciation, and the various organizers at the temple on the evening of Dec. 26, Nauzad Sadry sang a medley of songs.

Several mayors attended the festival, as did Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who toured the booths Dec. 23.

“It’s been a very good experience for me,” said Amrit Patel, who sits on the board of the Matiya Racerback Tank Top Center. “I really like the art and cultural and clothing from India during this festival,” he said before echoing the words of the consul general. “It reminds us of home.”

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Crude futures plunged nearly 3% Wednesday as U.S. oil product inventories rose and oil consumption remained weak.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery settled $1.95, or 2.7%, lower at $70.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest level since Oct 7. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange closed $2.80, or 3.7% lower, at $72.39 a barrel.

The U.S. Energy Information and commercial awnings gas stations Administration reported a 2.253 million-barrel build in gasoline stocks last week, exceeding analyst forecasts for a 1.5 million-barrel gain.

Distillate stocks, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, rose 1.619 million barrels compared with expectations of a 500,000-barrel decline.

“Overall, the report was bearish as product inventories are rising despite low refinery operating rates,” said Tim Evans, analyst with Citi Futures Perspective in New York.

While refinery processing rates nudged up 1.4% to 81.1% of total capacity last week, the rate still remains historically low.

Demand figures reported by the EIA were unable to support the case for prices to move higher, showing consumption in the U.S. is still failing to recover despite the economic upturn.

“Oil is finally trading on fundamentals,” said Stephen Schork, editor of Energy Newsletter the Schork Report, in Villanova, Pa.

The EIA reported total products supplied–used as a proxy for demand–fell 3% year-on-year over the last four weeks to average 18.5 million barrels per day.

“These are not bull market conditions, the physical side fundamentally remains quite weak,” said Evans, chief manager of Car wash canopies network company USA.

A fall in crude stocks of 3.823 million barrels–against expectations of a 600,000- barrel build–had given prices a boost soon after the data. But oil market participants discounted the drop, saying this was due to refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast and Gas station canopies companies trying to reduce stocks to limit year-end taxes on inventories. Stocks could rebuild again in January.

Traders instead focused on the build of crude inventories in Cushing, Okla., the delivery points for the WTI contract, which rose 2.5 million barrels to 33.4 million barrels. This figure is now approaching record levels.

“Those who can’t find a buyer are moving it and delivering it to Cushing,” said Evans, noting that the price discount of a $1.90 between the January and February contract is covering the cost of storing the crude.

Adding to the downward pressure on oil prices was a strengthening in the dollar, which briefly touched a new one-month intraday high of $1.4665 against the euro.

Renewed worries about sovereign credit quality saw the dollar reverse earlier losses after ratings agency California modular company revised the outlook on its AA+ and A-1+ shorter-term ratings on Spain to negative from stable.

Oil prices tend to fall on a stronger dollar, as this makes the dollar-denominated commodity more expensive to foreign buyers.

The retreat in oil prices this week has now set a more negative tone for the oil market and could signal further declines.

Wednesday’s sharp losses in crude “are a game changer and $70 a barrel is now coming under threat,” said Schork.

Front-month January reformulated gasoline station canopy blendstock, or RBOB, settled 6.73 cents, or 3.5%, lower at $1.8573 a gallon. Front-month January heating oil settled 8.16 cents, or 4.1%, lower at $1.9093 a gallon.

More information on settlements and highs and lows for futures on Nymex and ICE platforms can be found by searching for the following headlines:

Nymex Light Crude Oil Close
Nymex Harbor RBOB Gasoline Close
Nymex Heating Oil Close
ICE Brent Crude Oil Close
ICE Gas Oil Close

-By Claire Rangel, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2846;