The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell is planning on selling its factories in order to cut costs. While the article points out that some of those facilities are located in Nashville, it also adds:

Dell could face several obstacles to selling its plants. Contract manufacturers may be hesitant to buy factories in places with high labor costs, like the U.S., said one person with knowledge of the talks. And some facilities could be encumbered by agreements with local governments.

That’s likely in Tennessee, but Dell, like any private enterprise, will ultimately make decisions based on the numbers its accountants determine will best serve the company’s longterm interest.

More later.

My blogofilter is lighting up this morning with, uh, observations about the 90-second shoe-store advertisement embedded below. Personally, I think it’s one of the best ads ever created for a discount shoe retailer. How they got Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld to promote the Shoe Circus brand, I’ll never know. And during the first game of the NFL season, no less! I think it’s wonderful that Bill Gates doesn’t mind being the subject of nerd jokes and it’s good to see that now that he’s retired from Microsoft, he’s found a job as a pitchman for discount shoes.*

*Joking aside, if I were the Shoe Carnival chain, I’d be all over this ad with some fun guerilla marketing.