Economic woes spread across nation

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By Patrice Hill

The credit crisis that exploded last month left a blast crater in an already sinking economy, and some of the victims emerged to tell their tales Wednesday.

Thousands of finance jobs were lost from the New York epicenter, where Wall Street firms folded en masse, to the West Coast, where two major banks were closed.

Sales at Ford, Chrysler and other automakers plummeted by a third as customers and dealers reported being unable to get loans — threatening the already teetering finances of Detroit's Big Three.

U.S. manufacturing — which was kept afloat by robust exports earlier this year — sank into recession as companies shut off orders, an industry group reported, while Washington's airport authority and other municipalities and corporations said they had to postpone projects financed by bonds.

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"Welcome to the recession," said Daniel North, chief economist for credit insurer Euler Hermes ACI. "The combined weight of high energy prices and a ruined housing market is now being compounded by the ever-worsening conditions in the credit markets."

Every industry from manufacturing and housing to services was hit by record declines last month in a credit manager's index that Mr. North compiles, with businesses using words like "tough" and "brutal" to describe conditions in their areas, he said.