The State of the Economy – a down and dirty analysis Everybody always wonders how the economy is impacting business.   The topic comes in Numero Uno in the cocktail chat at most distributor association meetings.   No distributor to distributor phone conversation excludes the topic.   We are in some uncertain times.   In general I have heard stories of great Januarys followed by pathetic Februarys or some permutation of the story.    Privately held distributors often won’t provide sales data for the record and sometimes exaggerate when asked.   Yet I believe most of us are still interested in what’s going on.   With this point in mind, we thought about providing a short recap of the publically held companies in our sector.   They are required by law to report sales so the information is real.   While there is a difference between their business model, territory and scope, I think it gives us a subtle insight into the economy. ...