A lot of folks in the building material supply chain are holding their breath these days. The skyrocketing prices of finished petroleum products including asphalt roofing over the past year have reached a peak and appear to be headed for what could be a rapid downward spiral.

A few months after his inauguration as our first president, George Washington issued "Presidential Proclamation Number One,” declaring November 26, 1789 as a national day of “thanksgiving and prayer.”

If I want stock in Ford or GM I will go out and buy some. I had some stock in AIG and lost my ass on it a few months back. That was my deal and I took the hit and I’m not asking the taxpayers of this country to bail me out.

You may want to stop and read Roofing Contractor editor Chris King’s blog dated November 7, 2008. Chris brings your attention to some pending legislation that may, on the face of it, not seem to hit so close to home.

Kay and I officially became “empty-nesters” a little over three years ago. Right around that time we sold off our big house in favor of a townhome. The yard (the official size of our lot is 1/20 of an acre) and other exterior maintenance is all done by the HOA. Since we were never that big on landscaping or yard maintenance we generally subbed that out even when we were at the big house, but this really is easy.

I am no learned professor or expert or guru of any kind. But I can read. The several issues with the banking crisis and recession and stock market correction(s) are not really all that troubling to me.

Received a memo a month or so back warning about this, then an event of this past week brought this issue into focus.

The craziness in the markets will have an impact on our industry, but what does it mean? I do not know, but experience tells me that we will not only get through it, we will come out on the other side as something different.

One thing should remain constant in your roof contracting business - in good economic times, in challenging economic times, and even in times when you are left to wonder if there is an economy. You must maintain a constant focus on profits.

It is a pleasant Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, a cloudy but cool day. It seems that autumn just cannot wait. While I can certainly enjoy the weather, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to enjoy the state of affairs in this country.