“The industrial environment is in a recession – I don’t care what anybody says,” Fastenal CFO Daniel Florness exclaimed in frustration back in October when William Blair analyst Ryan Merkel dared to suggest that the US economy wasn’t in fact in the doldrums on the company’s Q3 call.

No matter where you look there are signs that Marc Faber is correct to suggest that the US is already in a recession. Plunging oil prices have wreaked havoc on the country’s oil boom towns and America’s beleaguered manufacturing sector – which exists as but a shadow of its former self – is set to suffer mightily under the strong dollar. Just this morning we got a fresh warning about the the health of the manufacturing sector when US factories reported the worst business conditions in three years.

More at Source: For These Four States, The Recession Has Arrived | Zero Hedge