When the Legislature ended amid a crashing economy, the news media reacted as if Utah had dodged a bullet. Indeed, state budget-wise, things jelled. But happy days are definitely not here again. Thousands of Utahns don't have the state's fall backs of triple-A bond ratings and a fat Rainy Day fund.

Bankruptcy filings are way, way up. In the first three months this year, Bankruptcy Court for Utah got more than 3,000 bankruptcy petitions — a 56 percent increase from a year earlier. March, alone, saw a nearly 75 percent increase.

It could be worse. Chapter 13 trustee Kevin Anderson says some folks are too hard up to even go bankrupt:

You know it [the economy] is bad when things are so tough that a lot of people can't even file for Chapter 13 [because they don't have jobs].

On the bright side, three of Utah’s cities — Provo-Orem, Logan and St. George — are among the top-ten fastest growing metrops, according to the U.S Census Bureau. This is an sign of Utah’s overall economic strength, says the Guv's Office of Economic Development.