Recent events in the financial industry -Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection, Bank of America buying Merrill Lynch, the government stepping in to shore up AIG -have left many wondering how these events together with other factors dampening the economy could affect individual sectors.
 
Don Norman, an economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, tells MDM that’s a good question to be considering but not one that manufacturers and those supplying manufacturers should necessarily panic about, thanks to a solid export market. The reality is that strength in the overall manufacturing sector may be keeping the current economic situation from being a lot worse than it already is. According to Norman, except for companies closely linked to the housing or automotive …