Free Republic

NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Chinese suppliers and an agent of China's government are poised to take control of Huffy Corp. (HUFCQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) , a venerable U.S. brand name, as the bicycle maker restructures under bankruptcy protection, it said on Tuesday. Huffy, making bikes for Americans for more than a century, said it had agreed to a reorganization plan which would allow it to terminate its staff pension plans. The company would turn responsibility for the benefits over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a unit of the federal government that insures pension plans.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Nancy Thickel has fond memories of the Huffy bikes she has bought over the years. The first one she used to get around as a student at Ohio State University in the 1970s. Another was an anniversary present for her husband and two more were birthday gifts for her children. One reason to buy Huffy bikes was to patronize a local company that had grown up in the city known for two famous bikemakers - Wilbur and Orville Wright. "It was all about brand awareness," said Thickel, 53, of suburban Oakwood. "It was the Dayton brand."...

A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles.