“One word...electricity. It takes mining to even begin the production.”
True. I guess coal mining would be a leading indicator. I live near coal tracks, and it is easy to tell if the steel plants are in production or if someone is having a cold or hot spell.
I will tell you this. I live near the main BNSF line from CA to the east. Used to see at least a stack train going east every 10 minutes. Not anymore. I also understand that UP had a 20% drop in its frieght.
Trucking seems to had dropped off a bit also on I40.
I guess maybe we had better get the experts to ask the transportation industry how well its going and forget about the numbers game a little.
Shame what they did to the coal industry in CO. Heck the whole country for that matter.
I wonder if they will fire up the older coal fired plants after a bit to bridge the gap to the newer plants.