I suspect there's some truth in that observation, Tom. I know I'm buying a lot of brands of food I never bought before simply because our local Safeway has quit handling a lot of my old favorites.
The health of Barrett Minerals/Minerals Tech is tied to some extent to the auto and space industry. Barrett's is a talc mine, and talc is used in the manufacture of new cars, tiles for the space shuttles, and, of course, to dust that gum we unwrap from the rectangular silver wrappers. When auto production went south, so did Barrett's. Things have picked up a bit, however, which resulted in Barrett's recalling several crews over the past 6 weeks or so. We just hope the trend holds steady or continues to pick up a bit. I'm sure talc is used a lot of other places, too, but I'm not familiar with those.
Perhaps some of the better (quality) RV manufacturers will be able to reorganize and reopen one day. I have the feeling that Keystone's workmanship and reputation helped them weather the storm so far. Things may never be the same for a lot of us--disposable income is an endangered species for the time being, I fear.
Carolyn
|