The amazing rate of Walmart’s direct import facilities that reached one of its top two levels in 2011 out of a 5-level scale in terms of “ethical sourcing, including pay and working conditions.. That left it just a fraction of a percent below Walmart’s 95% goal for that measure. That i3.4%nsight from the retail giant’s rather extraordinary Sustainability report for2012, released this week. That report showed Walmart active and successful in literally dozens of initiatives across the globe. To read our summary, go to: Walmart’s Vast Efforts and Progress in Sustainability.

Jump in US manufacturing output in the three-month period from December to February, as reported this week in revised numbers from the Federal Reserves. That makes it the sharpest three-month increase since the first quarter of 1984. That’s amazing, it seems to us. Manufacturing was down .2% in March, the Fed said, but believes the manufacturing economy was just “taking a breather” after the sharp run-up in the previous three months. As manufacturing continues to carry the economy, one has to wonder if those saying we will see less offshoring and a degree of “re-shoring” are turning out to be correct.