1.   After a year and a half of torrid growth, the notoriously cyclical industry must eventually enter a downturn.

2.   But small caps were outperforming large caps as we entered this downturn.

3.   However, this is a year in which the U.S. entered a downturn and our U.S. organization performed better than anyone else in the world.

4.   Then, many local companies, including those on Wall Street, entered the downturn with bloated payrolls that were cut sharply.

5.   When the semiconductor industry, a cyclical business, entered the inevitable downturn, National fared worse than most companies.