American anime industry

The chair of AX says the attendees of Anime Expo is averaging about 20 percent annual growth,
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/07/07/apop.DTL

but Ask John mentioned "The contemporary American anime industry is in dire straights. Evidence suggests that many of America's anime distributors are struggling financially."
http://www.animenation.net/news/askjohn.php?id=1123

What's this all about?

These days American distributors are putting out just about everything that comes out in Japan. There are plenty of series where you really have to wonder why someone thought it was a good idea to bring them to the U.S. market. ADV in particular makes me wonder what the hell they're thinking.