U.S. may not be in recession, but 170 metro areas could be

McClatchy reports:

The broad U.S. economy appears to have escaped a recession, most mainstream economists say, but that's of no comfort to most parts of the country, where economic pain is being felt virtually everyplace but oil-rich Texas and Oklahoma.

In fact, one respected economic forecaster estimates that 170 U.S. metropolitan areas could be considered technically in recession, and another 116 are at risk of economic contraction.

The national economy reflects the sum of many regional and local economies, so at any given time there are always winners and losers. But today's slowdown is unique. It isn't driven by the usual business cycle; it was brought on by severe nationwide problems in the housing sector, which have spread to banking and finance, drying up consumer lending.

That's why a lot of metro areas are losers right now, even while the broader economy technically isn't in recession.

"Usually in national recessions, there are one region or two that get completely crushed and everyone else holds up well. . . . That's not the case this go around," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, a forecaster in West Chester, Pa. "The only big economy that has held together well is Texas. Everywhere else it is shades of black."

The triumph of Texas.