The economy of 2 or 3 years ago was running on credit. Borrowed money - mostly from overseas.

We are in ag as you point out but our suppliers are in all businesses. The steel, bearing cutting tool, machine tool, welding supply, casting, forging, etc suppliers we use supply a wide variety of industries. We use a lot of Chicago - Milwaukee - Rockford suppliers on east through N IN, S MI and into OH (Timken in Bucyrus, OH).

The general feeling I get from many of these suppliers is that business is slowly picking up.

I also think that savings rates increasing is a good thing. People are paying attention to credit card balances. Credit card companies and banks have new rules to follow as most of us received letters describing.

All in all I see a lot of positive things happening in the ag and non-ag economies although they are moving very slowly.

Jim at Dawn