Credit risk One of the things that we bank regulators worry about is credit risk, which has historically been the leading cause of bank failures. Of course, credit performance has been very strong lately and banks of all sizes survived the recent recession with only a slight decline in credit quality.
*  *  *  To say that the manufacturing sector has been in a secular decline would be an understatement because it is so obvious to the keen and not so keen observer. Let us look at its performance during the last decade or so beginning in 1998.