Earlier this week, at the World Conference on Investment Casting and equipment expo in Dallas, I had numerous conversations that seemed to get around to the same subject: how bad is it? The meaning, of course, was “how bad are our economic conditions,” or, even, “how bad is your/my financial situation”?  

The notion that people seek my opinion on such matters surprises me. I’ve been contacted more frequently about my monthly column in the October issue of FM&T than about any other thing I can recollect over more than a decade. In Dallas, some folks seemed eager to know what I’m "hearing." Others seemed anxious to gauge my feeling on what they fear from coming election will mean for the metalcasting industry. Still, others — especially equipment suppliers — are trying to verify rumors about their customers and competitors.

All I offer are little pieces of anecdotal information. But here, in digest form, is a recap of the little pieces I’ve picked up:

• Investment casters indicate they are getting along fairly well, though they’re not immune from the fact that credit has been harder to access … it affects them, their suppliers, and their customers;

• Companies that have little or no involvement with the automotive market are feeling better about their situation than those who have that exposure;
• Foundries that supply components for mining and excavating equipment, power-generation systems, and medical devices continue to feel confident about their prospects; and,
  
• Companies that have long-established relationships with local or regional financial institutions are more assured of their standing than those who have accessed private equity, or that are financed with credit arrangements from larger banks and investment groups.
  

All of this is fairly obvious stuff you could conclude on your own, with only a little bit of patient thought. It doesn’t take me to say this; and hearing it from me doesn’t validate it more or less than if it came from almost anyone.

Patience, however, is one thing I detect very little of in my conversations and correspondence. People, in case you have not noticed, are tense, anxious, and in some cases desperate for reassurance that “normal” circumstances will return.

Seeking “normal” is always hard. How do you know it when you’ve found it? And, lately, our so-called leaders haven’t helped us in this effort. The financial community that always counsels confidence is panicking, and the political crowd is frantically pestering us with “change.” How can we be expected to show confidence?

One way is to seek assurance from others, as various inquirers have done to me. Another way is to exhibit confidence even when you’re not at all sure you have it. For an example of the opposite, I offer this: a foundry superintendent we contacted as part of our annual Business Outlook survey took the trouble to return the form in the envelope provided — scrupulously torn into little pieces.

The pieces were not so little that I couldn’t reassemble the address label. I won’t tell the name of this fellow, or the location of his foundry. But, I won’t be seeking his opinion any longer.