Hello all,

The weather here continues lurching like a drunken sailor back and forth between fall and winter…hopefully it will give up soon and just lie down in one spot. Last night, it was snowing when I went to bed, and today will be near 50 and rainy.

The big news this week actually seems noteworthy — Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that starting next year, some of their manufacturing jobs will be returning to the US. Shawn has more details in his article this week. I am hoping for two things from this — both of which could be completely off the mark (or overly optimistic anyway).

Firstly, I hope this marks a point where Apple decides to become a better corporate citizen. Steve Jobs was a visionary in many ways, but corporate responsibility and investing in American manufacturing were not a big part of that vision. Secondly, I hope that this symbolic gesture by Apple will help bolster the confidence of other companies considering this move to take the step (or maybe simply take it a bit sooner than they were going to).

Let me know what you think and have a good week.

Liam
liam@smalldog.com