The Federal Reserve recently released its "Beige Book" report, a collection of observations and reports from around the nation, which included comments from the 12th District board of governors down in San Francisco about the state of the western economy.

In general, our economy is flat, the Fed says.

Wage increases are low - except for "engineers and other highly skilled technical workers in...

Newly released state figures show that Washington state's economy finished 2007 strong, with gross business income growing by 13.3 percent, to a total of $173 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of $20 billion over the same quarter the year before.

We keep saying that Boeing and Microsoft are keeping Puget Sound out of a recession, and the numbers bear that out: Aerospace manufacturing...

You've heard all about how new home sales nationwide are at their lowest level since the early '90s. Of how sales of existing homes have fallen in seven of the last eight months. Of some of the doomsday projections that the housing crisis - and it clearly is that in  California and Florida - will result in an economic collapse to rival the Great Depression.

That's the bad news. The good...