The Common Sense Belt

Check this out! It's the Associated Press Economic Stress Indicator, which charts the economic factors of all of the U.S.' counties. A rating of 10 or higher is considered stressed, based on the factors (unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies). There is, according to a report on Yahoo news this morning, a swath of counties through the Great Plains that are insulated from the recession. It has shrunk from 500 counties to about 200 counties, the report said.
Here is the link to the full chart -- hold the cursor over any county to get its ratings and population.
I won't add more here -- it speaks for itself! I'm camping out here in the heartland, where the sensible people live.
http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_national/stress_index_premium/

That's interesting.

I suppose people in the Great Plains were used to economic stress all the time.