to support your statement that unemployment is a lagging indicator -- very random observation of rural Carolinas annual horse roundup and sale. They keep and publish records of a traditional county horse auction there, and the 2006-2010 years are listed. You can see a big change in the prices among these relatively unconnected people and their auction, but it is lagging by two years versus the massive credit crunch that put so many high-leverage city companies out of business.