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Maps of the Recession

Think your town has it worst? You could be right. But to be sure, there are a plethora of maps, lists and other round-up prognoses attempting to help you determine just how bad it is from city to city. Here are two of the latest.

AP: Economic Stress Map
The Associated Press has rolled out its Economic Stress Index, which uses basic economic indicators like jobs, foreclosures and bankruptcies to find heat maps of good times and bad. You can watch videos of real people who have suffered the downturn. But the map comes with a self-serious accompanying story that makes us ask, Really, is this necessary? See this:

For generations, maps have told tales that words and numbers alone cannot. Maps guided us to the New World, helped us navigate from its edges into its interior. Vague, undefined maps showed Lewis & Clark where to go next _ and in turn gave us fresher, more accurate maps that fueled further explorations. Maps outlined the frontier for settlement and showed us where to find the silver, the gold and the coal that made us prosperous. Computer mapping helps businesses expand, prosper and find new customers.

What you’ll learn from the map, the AP notes:

The current recession spread like an epidemic from isolation to ubiquity, marching from sequestered pockets of foreclosure to a nationwide explosion of misery as unemployment overtook foreclosures as the dominant misfortune of this recession.

It’s hard to read through all the purple. This is copy obviously written by those with jobs, not impacted by the downturn.

Business Insider: Most Depressing Cities
Meanwhile, Business Insider last week published a Most Depressing Cities feature, which analyzes cities not only on their economic data, but also for their character. Stockton, California, number 11 on their list, has a high foreclosure rate, sure, but it’s also “depressing” because “Stockton is tract-home hell.” Flint, Michigan, isn’t just located in the notoriously distressed state of Michigan, it’s also “an impoverished, depressing dump.” Kansas, they note, has a high suicide rate. If ever there was an indicator…

Tags: economy, maps