Oct. 4--Students in Economics 101 study them.

Real people live them.

We refer to business cycles, or how certain areas of the economy expand and contract on a regular basis. Get enough expansion across the board, and things go well for many business owners and their employees across the country. When the demand for goods and services wanes, businesses lose money, jobs are cut, and communities suffer through a recession.

The nation's last recession in 2001, combined with foreign competition and other factors, brought down a venerable local employer, Northwestern Steel and Wire, whose bankruptcy and closure eliminated about 1,400 jobs.

In the current slowdown, however, the successor company to NSW is doing just fine, thank you.

In fact, Sterling Steel has hired about 40 additional employees. The goal is to expand production of steel rods by adding a third shift at the mini-mill. When the expansion is complete, about 300 local people will be employed there.

Leggett & Platt of Carthage, Mo., bought NSW's assets 6 years ago and started Sterling Steel so it could produce rods to send to its wire mills. The wire created there is used by the company to manufacture items such as bedsprings, mattresses, chairs, vehicle seats, office furniture and nails.

This time, business cycles seem to be helping Sterling Steel, rather than working against it. Formerly cheap foreign steel has become higher priced because of the falling dollar. Along with certain trade actions, this makes domestic steel, and products manufactured from it, more competitive in the marketplace. Leggett & Platt reports its market share in bedding and furniture has increased, which bodes well for the company.

It also bodes well for Sterling Steel, the people who depend on it, and the region where they live. As noted by Heather Sotelo, executive director of Greater Sterling Development Corp., Sterling Steel's revival has a positive psychological effect on Sterling, Rock Falls and beyond.

The company had help to reach this point through incentives and credits from Whiteside County, the city of Sterling, the Whiteside/Carroll enterprise zone and a tax increment financing district. These entities and the people behind them deserve credit for setting the stage for success.

We're pleased that Sterling Steel is seizing the current business cycle's opportunities and running with them. We hope their good fortune continues for a long, long time -- long enough to write a new chapter in that Economics 101 textbook.

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