And so it goes, as a crisis born in the mortgage collapse and sent into overdrive by Wall Street’s financial disaster now spreads to the broader economy. In this port city, near the mouth of the Savannah River, the downturn is chipping away at expansion and prosperity, dimming a 20-year boom. The unemployment rate in Savannah has risen sharply, just as it has across the nation. And cutbacks in output in midsize cities like Savannah are contributing to an accelerating decline in the country’s gross domestic product.

New York Times