Word: productive
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...succeeded, the loan was repaid, but if it failed, the Government ate the difference. The cost to taxpayers was small, at least compared with other farm subsidies: $600 million total between 1938 and 1982. Yet increasingly, foes of tobacco began asking why any tax funds should go to a product that the Government itself says is a health risk. Under pressure, Congress in 1982 decided the tobacco program should be self-sustaining. To cover their loans, farmers were automatically assessed 3 cents for every pound of flue-cured tobacco they marketed...
Dittler was founded in 1902 by Brothers Emil and Alex Dittler as a printer of railroad schedules. But by the 1970s it had expanded its product range to include business cards, hotel directories and contest tickets. Says Dittler Chairman Gilbert Bachman: "We had already produced literally billions of promotional game tickets for other companies, so it was just a matter of taking our know-how and applying it to the instant lottery ticket concept...
Dustbusters were introduced in 1979, but sales got a charge in the past few months from a $3 million advertising campaign. With about 10 million Dustbusters sold, the product's success led rivals to introduce competing models. Black & Decker fought back by filing patent-infringement suits against more than a dozen competitors...
Black & Decker, founded in 1910, has long experience with battery-powered tools. Astronauts carried its portable drills to the moon. In the mid-1970s the company introduced a power handle with drill, flashlight, hedge-trimmer and vacuum attachments. The product failed, though, because consumers often forgot to recharge the batteries. But when the handle was joined permanently to the vacuum alone, a success was born...
...calling him "Pie" instead of "Pay." But they laughed when Reagan said, "Good design can help us save money, and you know how much that warms my heart." The President's interest cannot fail to shake up the bureaucracy a little. And more attention to the quality of a product's appearance would not only improve the prestige of Government but might rub off on U.S. industry, which needs better design to improve its position in the world market...