Empty homes and for-sale signs clutter neighborhoods. You’ve lost your job or know someone who has. Your paycheck and nest egg are taking a hit.

Could the country be in recession?

Sixty-one percent of the public believes the economy is now suffering through its first recession since 2001, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll.

The fallout from a depressed housing market and a credit crunch nearly caused the economy to stall in the final three months of last year. Some experts, like the majority of people questioned in the poll, say the economy actually may be shrinking now. The worry is that consumers and businesses will hunker down further and pull back spending, sending the economy into a tailspin.

“Absolutely, we’re in a recession,” said Hilda Sanchez, 44, of Waterford, Calif.

Squeezed by high energy and food bills, “we can’t afford the things that we normally buy,” she said. “We are cutting corners in our spending. For our groceries, we are buying a lot of generic and we are eating out less.”

For many, the meltdown in the housing and mortgage markets has proved especially disturbing. Record numbers of people were forced from their homes, unable to afford the monthly loan payments. People watched their single biggest asset fall in value, a reason to tighten the belt.

“Obviously the housing market is creating deep concern. And one of the real problems could be that if people, as a result of their value of their homes going down, kind of pull in their horns,” President Bush said in a television interview aired Sunday.

Credit has become harder to get, thwarting would-be home buyers, adding to the glut of unsold homes and aggravating the housing industry’s woes.

“For-sale signs are everywhere. In my area, 35 to 40 homes are standing there and aren’t even complete. There aren’t any buyers,” said Jim…