Repeating myself over and over (my wife Laura says this is my most predominant quality), today there are two broad general grades of paper and paperboard being successful. Both fall in the category of being desired for their physical qualities. These are containerboard and tissue. Papers sought for their communications qualities (except for packaging, which has both physical and communications qualities) are for the history books, if anyone was still printing such tomes in quantity.

Last week, while companies such as Apple (communications business) were tripping over themselves to commit to investment in the United States of the order of $500 billion (over a long period of time), two paper companies fitting my model above made their own announcements.

Anthony Pratt announced Pratt Industries will be spending $5 billion in the near term bolstering his already impressive business in the United States. Kimberly-Clark announced $2 billion in investments in northeastern Ohio and at their Beech Island, South Carolina mill.

And let's not forget that Graphics Packaging (my third category above--packaging) will be starting up their new mill in Waco, Texas towards the end of the year, following their hugely successful project in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They have singlehandedly brought the packaging business from 1925 to 2025 in less than a decade.

I get very frustrated when people make comments about the death of the paper industry in the United States. I have been in this industry for over fifty years and continue to see new ways we make humans' lives better. In fact, I'll say, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Jim Thompson is CEO of Paperitalo Publications.