Pittsburgh knows all about recessions. This city was left for dead when steel and heavy manufacturing were smothered by globalization that started some 20 years ago. Pittsburgh never had a housing boom. How could it, when a quarter of the population evaporated when the jobs did? Pittsburgh's finances were so awful that it became a virtual ward of the state in 2003. Is your burg afraid of losing airline service? USAir's business crashed here in 2002. The spacious airport is half empty on a Sunday.
With Wall Street going off the cliff, and housing prices still declining in many areas, both...