Last week we mentioned Fudzilla's claim that Microsoft was going to cut up to 17 percent of its staff. Fudzilla has recanted the strong version of that statement, now saying that "staff" includes contractors and agencies. (All depends on what your definition of "staff" is.) This morning TechFlash has a Goldman Sachs analyst saying that Microsoft is likely to "cut heads" and a 10 percent number sounds "reasonable." But no matter how you slice it, any Microsoft cutback is bad for Seattle. The company has been a mainstay for many local marketing/PR firms, and the reductions in MIcrosoft spending that have already occurred have hit the sector hard. more ›

A lot has happened since November 4; we decided to spend $1.4 billion more than we thought we would on November 3, for one thing. State legislators learned of the new $4.6 billion estimate this morning, says the P-I. In response, Governor Gregoire has asked state agencies to look at cuts of up to 20 percent across the board. You already know what the Republicans will say about this, so we turned to the plucky third-party GOP candidate, Dino Rossi. Whoops, nothing there. So back to the Republicans. Nothing there either. It's like these people only care about budgets when there's an election. more ›

We'd heard that the media's other, cash-poor shoe would be dropping after the election, when all the campaign money dried up. But the Seattle Times is going shoeless a day early, with the announcement of a "workforce reduction of approximately 130-150 positions, a combination of voluntary separations and layoffs." Back in April, the Times shed 200 employees, and said then that further cuts might be necessary. What with classifieds, real estate, and financial services advertising down to a trickle of their former Niagaras, political advertising was the last...oh, we've done the shoe thing already. But you get the idea. Next up, similar news from the P-I? more ›

Governor Christine Gregoire has admitted Washington is facing a budget deficit for 2009-11 (currently the state has a surplus), after third-party "GOP" candidate (He's what now? A Republican?) Dino Rossi staked out the issue. Now that she's announced cutbacks and a raid on the state's rainy day fund to cut the projected $3.2 billion deficit by half, Rossi can't find anything good to say about that, either. It is thrilling to hear a Republican deride reckless deficit spending; Ronald Reagan was all for it. But besides his time machine which transports tomorrow's deficits to today, Rossi seems to have a magic calculator, too--his 8-lane 520 bridge practically pays for itself. more ›