4 - United States where we seem unable to come forward with much needed public policies and programs, particularly in the energy area, and finally political attitudes in host countries toward Utah's investment abroad. As the recession has deepened it has impacted with varying intensity on individual company operations. Hardest hit have been copper and ocean shipping. Activity in the steel industry held up relatively well in the early part of the general business decline but it now too has been affected. In energy products we have not really been hurt by declining demand for the minerals we produce but rather the real impact here has been on the shipping market, led by an oversupply of tanker capacity. Of course, housing and real estate generally are disaster areas. Before touching on more specific situations, let me comment on the problems stemming from the functioning or failure to function of the political process here and abroad, for these overlap in some instances with economic outlooks. Instinctively we tend to magnify the threat to foreign investment without evaluating the investment climate at home. For the producer of natural resources the United States is for the moment a very difficult country in which to operate. In its zeal to atone for past sins of despoiling the environment we put on the books hastily considered laws and regulations that are coming back to haunt us. To reduce our dependency upon imported oil it was clear even before the oil embargo that the United States needed an energy program that eliminated wasteful use, increased supply from domestic sources, and stimulated research and development of new energy sources or processes.