Washington bankruptcies are up just over 50 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to 2008, says the Seattle Times. 15,000 people and 87 businesses filed. On the other hand, says the Times editorial board, we've "turned a corner." The editorial board, just for reference, may be sniffing glue.
Starbucks' third quarter earnings beat market expectations, sending its stock up 8 percent. Don't assume this is because their new "we're not Starbucks" campaign or other gimmicks are working, though--most of the improved earnings is due to cutbacks, layoffs, and store closures.
The PSBJ was just explaining "debtenfreude" to us--the delight you take in another's real estate misfortune. Now we have a word for how we feel after reading this headline: "Economy eats into funds for Thunder arena project." The AP says "the tax approved by voters as a way to lure the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics to town--where they were renamed the Thunder--has produced $4.2 million below projections." Seattle leadership has gotta be happy they're not knee-deep in a Key Arena renovation right now.
We took the I-5 Mercer Street/Seattle Center exit the other night and while waiting for the light to change, we noticed ten--a seemingly abnormal amount--construction cranes littering the South Lake Union neighborhood. (Yes, some probably dedicated to building the new Amazon HQ.)
MSNBC has just updated its Adversity Index, which uses data on employment, business growth, and housing prices to label each state and metro area as expanding, at risk of recession, in recession, or recovering. The most recent data (through February 2009) in their economic downturn-ometer indicates that the recession reached 367 of the nation's 381 metro areas and 47 out of 50 states. But good news: Olympia--while still in a recession since January--hasn't been hit too hard due to being a state capital chockful of government employees. And then there's this: "the Kennewick-Pasco-Richland metro area has only now joined the recession, thanks to a resource that will pay glowing dividends for thousands of years: nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War." Um, three cheers for Hanford?
Washington may have sky-high sales tax, but the absence of any income tax has always been a consolation for citizens calculating just precisely how they could afford to live here. This morning, however, Democrat Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles re-introduced a bill that would change that by imposing a state income tax. (Check out Political Buzz' reporting on the bill, including a response from Kohl-Welles.) The proposed 1 percent tax would only affect those making more than $500,000 a year, so maybe the image of budget-traumatized, poor citizens eking out an existence is not the best to conjure. If you're making over $500,000 a year, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: you can afford the 1 percent income tax, and we're terribly sorry if it requires you to liquidate one of your vacation homes or, god forbid, drive a car more than two years old.
This morning, the state Senate will reveal their plan for a 2009-2011 operating budget; the House will release their version tomorrow. Given an unavoidable $9 billion shortfall, major cuts are only to be expected. Schmudget reported that if the Senate uses the entire Rainy Day Fund and frees up all available federal funds, legislators will still have to reckon with a deficit of $3.1 billion; that's where the program slicing and dicing comes into play. Stream the budget unveiling proceedings live at Washington State Public Affairs' website, tvw.org, or check online sometime after 10:30 a.m. today to find out what the Senate's budget looks like.
Seattlest was living in a house with several other people a few years back. The thing about living in group houses with , after which you threaten and forbid anyone from moving out.
How convenient! The Washington State Department of Transportation now has a map where you can see exactly where our federal stimulus money will be improving the state's highways and byways. The projects are concentrated, as expected, along I-5 and I-90, with a spattering up by Spokane and a few down towards Yakima. Here's the Washington Jobs Now project list; so far, five of the stimulus projects are at "Gone To Ad" status, whatever that means.
We knew it was coming, but it still stings: Boeing has announced it will lay off 900 employees today of the 10,000 expected over the course of 2009. 700 of those employees will be from our area. Ouch....On the first day of spring, too. At least it's not sunny or anything, because that would really be unfair.
Hello Dolly's earliest seeds of existence were planted in 1938, while the stock market crash of a near-decade prior was still fresh in the collective American memory. The story of a clever woman who manipulated relationships and played cupid (among other things) for money, all the while really yearning for an opportunity to find her own true love, resurrects that depression-era vigor at the 5th Avenue Theater through this month.
The housing market might be crashing, the sky crumbling (oh...that's snow, you say?), and layoffs increasing, but don't worry: along with the booze biz, the tattoo industry here in Seattle is doing just fine. That doesn't really make sense to us except in conjunction with the liquor sales increase. People get laid off, get drunk, get a tattoo: it's a time-honored tradition.
You would think, from reading bulletins about the stock market's drop today--about how the Dow Jones decline rate mimics the Great Depression--that Western civilization was on the brink of extinction. To someone who hasn't bought stock or mutual funds (securities of any kind, for that matter) for at least a decade, this doesn't make sense. The closely followed Dow is an average of the prices of thirty stodgy, old-line industrial companies (out of tens of thousands of publicly traded enterprises). An artificial indicator like that is bound to fluctuate, and consider this: No one is forcing anyone at gunpoint to buy or sell anything; for every seller, there's a willing buyer. The Market goes up, the Market goes down. Don't let it get in your head.
Last June, we almost jumped into that Yellow Cab (with its rooftop ad for flights to Heathrow) just to escape the gloomy weather. That was then--the climate has changed. Last night, emerging well-fed but late from Pearl in Bellevue, we found we'd missed our ride back to Seattle. We'd taken Sound Transit over, but now the prospect of a bus ride seemed overwhelming. Three taxis stood in line outside the Westin. Normally it's a $35 fare but we had exactly one $20 bill in our wallet. "Belltown for twenty bucks?" we asked. The first cabbie, understandably, refused. Second one glowered briefly and muttered, "Twenty-five." Third one reflected a moment, then said, "Get in." Twenty minutes later we were home. A parable for getting along in today's economy, perhaps?
Is your coffee cup half-empty yet? Krispy Kreme is selling a 16-ounce drip for a dime, which may be good news for those Microsoft temps getting a 10 percent pay cut. That's 40,000 grumpy Microserfs temporary workers, if you're counting. Is this why Washington is Number Two in bankruptcy growth? Even Lucy, the famous Ethiopian fossil (no really, she's old) isn't making money. Her last day at the Pacific Science Center is March 8. The snow isn't sticking around either, but you're probably okay with that.
We wanted to start off the morning with some good news, but after twenty minutes of scanning headlines, we gave up. Nordstrom's 2008 fourth quarter sales were down 8.5 percent, which is significant, but the double-whammy is that crappy start to the New Year. For comparison as to how tight pocketbooks are getting, same store sales are down 11 percent compared to January 2007. We don't like that. Seattle fashion is already a little too thrift-store friendly for our tastes.
Economist, New York Times columnist, and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman doesn't want you to miss any of the intricacies of his thought, which is why he bothers to explain how Wile E. Coyote generally flies off a cliff, pedals the air for a bit, and then plummets like a stone to the canyon floor below--all for the benefit of those of us "not familiar with the classics." He's ruddy, glowing with the good health of a man whom circumstances have put in the right, and facing a sold-out house at a World Affairs Council talk at Town Hall, 850 people hanging on his every word.
Seattlest gathered the top economic writers in the country and asked them to discuss the ramifications of the $819 billion economic recovery plan.
Fourth quarter wasn't good to Boeing, with a $56 million loss reported today by executives. The company expects to lay off 10,000 employees this year, 4,500 of which will be in their commercial airplanes division--and more than half of which will be local jobs down the hatch. We'd like to note for the record that we're getting tired of reporting all the layoff news from the biggest employers in our region, and once again extend our best wishes and send good financial vibes in the direction of those Seattleites who will be affected by the upcoming round of job cuts. Perhaps all the bad news signals the beginning of an era of unprecedented creativity and community building; that's what we're holding out for, anyway. In other job news, U.S. Customs is hiring.
On Sunday, February 1, regular Metro fares will increase by 25 cents. Their handy fare revisions chart [pdf] goes into more detail: kids, senior citizens, or disabled riders won't have to pay any more than previously to ride the bus, but regular riders will soon be paying $2 for the pleasure of riding in peak season and $2.50 for peak two-zone rides. Off-peak regular fare will be $1.75 for one- or two-zone rides. Metro blames "a weak economy, record fuel prices in mid-2008 and falling sales tax revenues" for their budget woes, and notes that the fare revision will help them maintain their current system rather than to increase route coverage or frequency. Guess that means fewer quarters in our bank account to spend on jalapeno poppers.
The liquor business is booming, despite--or perhaps because of--the recession impacting every other sector of Washington's economy. Gregoire's '09-'11 budget attempts to capitalize on the boom, using Washington's convenient state-run liquor store set-up by requesting that ten more liquor stores open across the state. In theory, this would mean more cash for a state government under such a financial squeeze that social and health care programs are being slashed right and left. But, as the P-I points out, the budget specifications are dredging up the old debate about the state's involvement in liquor sales. Here we go, again. More information for you while you make up your mind:
There may be a scary economic recession, but the Gates Foundation won't be slowing down on their philanthropy this year, according to Bill Gates' first annual nine-page letter to the Foundation supporters at large. "The goal of our foundation is to make investments whose payback to society is very high rather than to pay out the minimum to make the endowment last as long as possible," he writes.
I am impressed by individuals who continue to give generously even in these difficult times. I believe that the wealthy have a responsibility to invest in addressing inequity. This is especially true when the constraints on others are so great. Otherwise, we will come out of the economic downturn in a world that is even more unequal, with greater inequities in health and education, and fewer opportunities for people to improve their lives. There is no reason to accept that, when we know how to make huge gains over the long term.The real question here, though, is if Bill will take the recession as a cue to return to his old 7-Eleven-brand coffee drinking days.
You're walking down the street, maybe hitting the ATM to see if there's any cash left, when you spot a small pink cupcake with a little flag that says, "The economy is going to be OK." It's not a dream, it's the magic of Seattle blogger Cakespy, who in recent weeks has sweetened our streets (and No Parking signs, and ash trays) with ersatz cupcakes bearing upbeat affirmations. Call us old and sentimental. We are. We know this twee whimsy does nothing but make people smile.
In her inaugural speech [pdf] on Wednesday, Governor Gregoire hearkened back to the Great Depression and called for "generosity among all Washingtonians" in the next few years as the state navigates the worst economic recession since the 1930s. She also hinted at a new program she has named "Washington Jobs Now," saying that she thinks it could create as many as 20,000 new jobs for the state by cutting unemployment taxes for businesses and pushing forward some $1 billion in public works projects. Yesterday, she revealed the details of the plan [pdf] at the 37th Annual Economic Forecast Conference at enterpriseSeattle.
Here's a resolution Seattlest hopes we can all get behind: let's go out more in 2009. More dinners at family-run restaurants, more happy hour cocktails at locally owned bars, more weekend getaways to nearby B&Bs.
Starbucks may be having difficulties, but the liquor industry is doing just fine, thank you very much. Washington state liquor sales are up five percent this year, a statistic owed (we suspect) in large part to the contributions of all the laid-off Starbucks employees. After all, a latte may wake you up, but a whiskey-laced latte will wake you up to a world much softer than the world in which you fell asleep. Perhaps it's time to stimulate the economy by buying stock in Grey Goose. We would never suggest partaking in illegal activities, but we're certain now would be a lucrative time to get busy making moonshine. You could peddle it right outside Starbucks Corporate! (There are rumors of fast-approaching Microsoft lay-offs, too...supply and demand, people.)
This morning we were down at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce breakfast and regional economic forecast discussion, which opened with chair Tayloe Washburn being emotionally overcome while talking about how strapped food banks are for donations. (At which point we sorely regretted suggesting the chamber was "populated largely by jaw-dangling idiots," and wished we'd stuck to the rule of vilifying awful ideas rather than the people whose heads they're stinking up.)
Friendly Folk-Pop for the Kids: Hey Marseilles at Vera This Saturday
Seattlest Pix 09Nov21
Excavator Rampage in Stanwood
Can't Miss It: Weekend Edition Nov 20-22
Little Big Band Talks Respect, Honor, and Action
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
tweet this
add to facebook
