In addition, “We will not begin to
grow in terms of industrial production
until about 2014,” Beaulieu told a
groaning audience.
On its Way, but not at the Station
INDUSTRY CAPSULES
The good news is that the economic
recovery is finally arriving, Alan
VMA NEWS
Some specific issues Beaulieu
addressed this year included:
Beaulieu, economist, Institute for
Trend Research, told market outlook
attendees. The bad news is that it
won’t really get here until some time
next year and it won’t look very pretty
when it arrives.
; The credit crisis. Beaulieu joked
that recently, he was alarmed when
he turned on the TV and got both
Companies need to factor in price
increases in the long term for raw
materials, he explained, because if
they don’t, it “will have a nasty
impact in that it will steal purchas-
ing power,” he said.
MASON ELECTED VMA CHAIRMAN, VAUGHAN IS ‘MAN OF THE YEAR’
At VMA’s annual meeting, held last
October at The Breakers in Palm Beach,
Fox and CNN headlines screaming
about the evils of today’s banks.
FL, 2008/09 VMA Chairman Sam Ben-
nardo, president of AUMA Actuators,
passed the gavel to Mike Mason, execu-
tive vice president of the Fisher Division
of Emerson Process Management, to
commence his term as VMA 2009/
Mueller Co., was appointed to the board
following the departure of another board
member.
“We have more pain to go through.
But in terms of falling off a cliff, we’ve
almost hit the rocks,” Beaulieu joked.
Furthermore, “We will not be
impressed with the recovery of 2010,
but 2011 will be the good year.”
“When those two agree, it’s the end
of the world,” he joked. But businesses should want banks to do
well, not poorly, and what will happen is that “banks will go back to
being banks”—not lending to companies with inadequate balance
sheets, he said. “Until toxic assets
are disposed of, they [lenders] won’t
make loans again.” He also pointed
out that the nation’s credit system
is at normal recessionary levels,
that lending will soon open up, and
that interest rates are historically
low for those who want to borrow.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILA PHOTO
2010 chairman (see “Conversation
with…” on page 52 to learn more about
; Taxes. We are now the 13th largest
debt-to-GDP nation in the world,
and it’s making the rest of the
world nervous, Beaulieu said. Congress will have to raise taxes over
the coming years, he said. Unless
the federal deficit can be brought
under control, the nation is creating
“an odious situation for our children,” he said.
When Beaulieu spoke at VMA’s
Market Outlook Workshop in 2008,
the GDP was still above the zero line.
Mason and his plans for the year).
In addition to Mason’s election at the
association business meeting, Max
Since that time, he has downgraded
his own forecast—he had said it would
be the worst recession since the 1980s,
but now says it’s the worst since post
Mitchell, president of Crane’s Fluid
2009 VMA Man of the Year Phil Vaughan,
formerly of Cameron-Dynatorque
Phil Vaughan of Cameron-Dynatorque received VMA’s highest award:
Man of the Year. The clearly surprised
winner received a standing ovation and
was congratulated not only by previous
recipients of this prestigious award, but
by a long line of friends and colleagues
eager to wish him well. The award was
particularly meaningful as Vaughan had
just announced his upcoming retirement
from the industry.
Handling Group, was elected vice chair-
man, and Bruce Broxterman, president
of Richards Industries, was elected to
serve as program chairman for next
year’s annual meeting. Also newly elect-
ed to the VMA board are Randy Cow-
art, president, CEO and chairman of
The Wm. Powell Company, and Bob
World War II when the GDP fell to
about minus 13.
Urbanowicz, president of Samson Controls. David Linton, president of Curtiss-
; The stock market. All the leading
indicators say the market is
rebounding, so “we don’t have to
rely on newspapers [to tell us
what’s happening],” Beaulieu said.
However, don’t expect a return to
2007 levels for some portfolios
until the year 2020, he said.
; Inflation. Beaulieu cautioned the
audience not to believe the pundits
that say inflation is not coming.
Wright Flow Control, was elected to
serve another three-year term. More
recently, Greg Rogowski, president of
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LILA PHOTO
Vaughan has been in the valve and
actuator industry for 35 years and
involved in VMA for more than 25
years. He has served on numerous com-
mittees including the Government
Affairs, Actuator, Program and Mem-
bership committees, which he chaired,
as well as many Industry Councils. He
has also been part of the U.S. delegation
to CEIR a number of times. In 1996 he
was a recipient of a VMA Service
Award. He has served on the VMA
Board of Directors and in 2006 was
chairman of the board.
; Good places to be. Beaulieu said
the industries receiving stimulus
money are the ones to invest in this
year. Also good are the medical
industry (because of the aging population), the food industry, higher
education, legal services and global
energy.
FORECAST: Inflation will be up 3%
by end of 2010 and will rise to 6% in
the year 2011, peak at 7.5% in 2012,
then start falling. The nation’s debt
service as a percent of total budget
outlays will grow to 13% in 2009,
25.5% in 2012 and 34.1% in 2015.
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Finally, he advised people to look
into investing in real estate because
“you won’t get a better deal in your
lifetime,” he said.
New &
Improved
Outgoing VMA chairman Sam Bennardo, as well as departing board members David Moser of DFT and Steve
Twellman of Global Flow Technologies,
were all recognized for their outstanding
service to the association.
He also advised companies to stock
up on cash, “but don’t hoard it” and
be aggressive in planning. “We have to
get over the hunkered-down mindset—
differentiate your company by being
one of the few who is spending
money,” he said. And he left the audience with this positive thought:
“Americans change and adapt more
than any other people. We will not
only survive, we will learn to thrive,”
he said.
Outgoing VMA Chairman Sam Bennardo
(left), president of AUMA Actuators,
congratulates Mike Mason, executive vice
president of Emerson’s Fisher Division, as
Mason assumes chairmanship.
10 | Valve MAGAZINE
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