Recession's Regional Impact

The nation is in an economic recession, and while most states are feeling the pinch, some regions are faring better than others. New England has been hurt the hardest, and now the recession is deepening in other states along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. The Midwest and the South Central states are weathering the downturn better than they did in previous postwar recessions, but the nation's heartland may not be able to avoid the recession altogether. And how quickly any part of the country recovers depends to a great extent on what happens in the Persian Gulf.