"I don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do," Whalen said. "I put everything I had together so I could move up here and do this job. Like the articles tell you, they are one of the highest-paying employers in the state."

That's a quote from a laid-off Stillwater miner. SWC just announced the layoffs of 370 workers.

There's a refrain I've heard a lot these past few years, and it goes like this: "We're much more diversified than the 1980's economy was, so we won't have major economic hard times again."

I'm not an economist, and I'm the first to admit that it's hard to understand something as complex as the Montana or even Billings economy. But I was thinking.. what types of activities underlie and drive our economy in 2008?

• Construction/Development/Housing
• Oil and Gas
• Mining
  
• Agriculture
• Tourism

Hmmm. Going through the list, we find that residential construction has tanked and sales are falling (commercial construction is still blistering, though). The oil bubble has officially gone bust. Platinum and Palladium prices have fallen off a cliff. Grain prices are in a steep slide with the rest of the commodities. And tourism historically drops off during a recession.

I see all these things and I can't help but wonder.. how well can Billings and the rest of Montana weather a recession? Is our economy diversified enough that these things don't matter much anymore?

Whatever the case, there are now 370 former Stillwater employees who will not be consoled if you tell them how great the Montana economy is. Recessionary times are never easy-- please be supportive of any former SWC employees you know.