California economy weak, but no recession

Improbable as it sounds, California won't fall into a recession this year despite the intensifying housing market meltdown, according to UCLA's Anderson Forecast set for release today. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The outlook, similar in tone to one issued in March, calls for a "very weak" economy this year. But to anyone working in real estate, it will feel like a depression.

"The carnage is palpable but contained as California benefits from some very traditional industries and its position in the sun on the edge of the Pacific Rim," Anderson economist Jerry Nickelsburg wrote in his outlook for the state.

While a little more bearish, forecast director Edward Leamer thinks the nation will most likely dodge a recession also.