The situation in the Midwest is that there s a great deal of concern about the value of the American dollar and what it s doing to exports and hence to American corporate profits. Many companies have had severe hits on portions of their business that are overseas, particularly in East Asia and in Southeast Asia. Excuse me for interrupting, but explain how that works. Well, the point is that if you re not able to sell your products, that you re either manufacturing here in the United States and sending abroad, or if you can t sell those products that you re making abroad, because there are many Midwestern firms that have plants in Southeast Asia, or other parts of the world, and the fact the value of the dollar is so high has made it difficult to export those products the value of the money that you re able to bring back to those countries from other countries is now as much. And that s really hurting several firms here in the Midwest.
Farmers are very concerned about the price of commodities.
We have a situation where there s a severe reduction in the demand for the kinds of agricultural products that are produced in the Great Plain states, and the result is that we re seeing a decline in agricultural exports, at least in the value of agricultural exports, which is hurting the farm economies. By and large, the Midwestern economies have not been doing as well as the rest of the nation for about a year now. And as often is the case, when the preconditions for a recession are present, it s the Midwest that feels it first. So we should see a great deal of satisfaction. Well, let me describe it this way.