The industry may not be touching bottom any time soon.
"He's my son," he said, his voice touching bottom, "not yours.
But with the economy showing at least tentative signs of touching bottom, Mr. Koizumi stands a better chance of getting through the end of the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, without a major financial meltdown.
Exports have picked up for two months since touching bottom in April, and economists said the figures on Wednesday would probably presage growth during the third quarter, as businesses restart production and restock their depleted inventories.
Indeed, when I spoke on that New Year's Day, the economy was within six months of touching bottom and would be hitting new peaks by the next New Year's Day.
In 1970, American oil production reached nearly ten million barrels a day; that summit was followed by a slow slide, touching bottom, in 2008, at a little more than five million barrels a day.
With its toes just touching bottom, the animal probably had its head and neck exposed as well as its rigid tail.
Then I remembered Citi came back from death's door, touching bottom at a buck, its old high in the fifties, late 2007, never to be seen again.
Furthermore, virtually every major indicator was pointing south, and some "see the Dow touching bottom at 2200 or 1700 or 1444".
