Their retirement accounts are, as The Denver Post writes, “battered.” They are watching their grown kids struggle. They worry about paying for health insurance. They are almost senior citizens, yet 70 percent of employees who are close to 62 years old just plan to keep working because they can’t retire. And they’ll probably have to stay at it for a while, as Denver’s economy is “slowing rapidly,” according to the Denver Business Journal, which cites a Wells Fargo & Co. regional economic analysis.

In the worst reading in nearly five years, employment in Denver fell by nine-tenths of a point in December, compared to a year earlier. Still, that’s better than the national average. But don’t get too optimistic.

“Although some may say the media is blowing the recession out of proportion, clients in Denver are definitely feeling it,” Wells Fargo economist Ed Kashmarek writes.

President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus, however, could bring millions of dollars to Colorado projects meant to kick-start the economy from the ground up. But as The Los Angeles Times reports, the Senate’s approval of the $838 billion plan still faces plenty of political wrangling before it goes to Obama’s desk.