Is Colorado in a depression?

Is Colorado and the U.S. in another depression?

The old anecdote of  'when your neighbor loses a job, it's a recession but when you lose your job, it's a depression' may still apply somewhat.  Nationwide even the Fed says there is little hope for a quick recovery and that the nation may lose 8 million jobs this year alone!  Colorado seems to be doing a little better, the housing market here (at least under $350k) is decent, and the commercial cheap and small office and retail space market is doing ok.  There are some bigger deals getting done, but definately not at the same pace as last year.

It seems like everywhere you look people are downsizing their houses or talking about downsizing if they are underwater on their loan.  Perhaps the Obama plan will help, but it will probably do very little if anything to help the overall economy which is where the fear is coming from.

Banks are still tightening their lending standards despite receiving hundreds of billions of dollars of Federal Aid money.  People are fearful of losing their jobs and have adjusted their spending habits accordingly.  Although it's great to see the nation's saving rate increase from a long term point of view, I think that it is definately canceled by the likelihood of higher taxes and interest rates in our future.

The Colorado real estate market is doing better than most of the country, so those who choose to sell their homes in many cases actually can because pricing has held steady in their areas, but time will tell, as this recession-depression wears on whether or not the economy will improve enough for most homeowners to keep their jobs and keep paying their mortgages.