Oklahoma City defies recession

USA Today reports:

When an auto plant closes, it's usually bad news for the local economy.

When that factory is a mammoth, 4-million-square-foot operation with thousands of highly paid union workers, the shutdown could mean disaster.

Not in Oklahoma City, where the unemployment rate is low and personal income is soaring.

The General Motors plant closed in 2006, but was quickly reinvented as an aerospace repair operation for neighboring Tinker Air Force Base, one of the military's largest repair facilities.

The recession has put much of the U.S. on an economic losing streak, but a few places, including Oklahoma City, have missed most of the pain.