Outsourcing the Recession

Count the econ team over at Wachovia in the "no recession" camp—or at least those folks think the possibility is unlikely and growing more so by the day:

Many are asking, "What happened to the recession?" Our short answer is the recession has been outsourced. While this answer almost always leads to a few chuckles, it comes closer to answering the question than many would suspect. Most of the weakness in the economy is in housing or housing related industries, including building products manufacturers and financial services. In contrast to past housing downturns, much more of the products that go into houses are imported.... As a result, much of today's weakness is falling on foreign firms.