By Jim Whitt The Associated Press keeps a running Economic Stress Index which measures economic strain across the United States. They recently published a list of the 20 most and least economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their March 2010 Stress scores. Let’s compare the most economically stressed county, Imperial County in California with the least economically stressed county, Ford County in Kansas. The indicators AP uses are unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. Here’s a side-by-side comparison: INDICATORS IMPERIAL COUNTY FORD COUNTY Stress Index 31.27 4.07 Unemployment 27.0% 3.5% Foreclosure 4.59% 0.01% Bankruptcy 1.32% 0.58% As AP… Read More