A week of weakonomics
Posted Wed, Jun 25, 9 a.m.
If you look away from the Sonics trial for a moment, you can see warning signs that the seemingly immune local economy is actually pretty precarious.
READ MORE 2 COMMENTSCrosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most clicks.
Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most reader comments.
Posted Wed, Jun 25, 9 a.m.
If you look away from the Sonics trial for a moment, you can see warning signs that the seemingly immune local economy is actually pretty precarious.
READ MORE 2 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Jun 17, 7 p.m.
The state Democratic convention in Spokane was both inspiring and stultifying. Among the delegates who bothered to show up, there was passion, tedium, booze, sunshine, and a desire for change.
READ MORE 6 COMMENTS
Posted Mon, May 26, 8 p.m.
Nonsourcing is the way to go. And to ensure quality service, this article may be monitored for quality control or training purposes.
READ MORE 4 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, May 6, 2 p.m.
Seattle's French Underground: Today's graduates are more likely to have studied abroad, and they're more open to leaving France for career opportunities – glamorous and humble. Many of them are settling in metro Puget Sound. Part 3
READ MORE COMMENT NOW
Posted Mon, May 5, midnight
Seattle's French Underground: Thousands have invaded metro Puget Sound, many of them in search of opportunities and attitudes in technology that simply don't exist at home in France. Part 1
READ MORE 2 COMMENTS
Posted Thu, Apr 24, 2 p.m.
As civic icons like Safeco drift away from their Puget Sound roots, here's a look at the components of a Seattle way of doing business that built up such brands. The key was motivated employees. The poison was rapid growth.
READ MORE COMMENT NOW
Posted Tue, Apr 22, 5 a.m.
A group with Northwest ties is aced out of a pavilion bid for Expo 2010 in China. Instead, the U.S. State Department has given the go-ahead to a team with connections to Warner Brothers and a major D.C. law firm. Now all they have to do is raise $80 million.
READ MORE 2 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Apr 2, 5 a.m.
A town of modest pleasures has become a city of cringe-inducing excess, even in the little things like coffee, booze, and movie tickets.
READ MORE 14 COMMENTS
Posted Thu, Mar 27, 5 a.m.
The longtime columnist for Seattle's dailies casts an affectionate eye over the many sweeping transformations of the city, and wonders if all the newcomers will learn to cherish the uniqueness of the place.
READ MORE 11 COMMENTSPosted Mon, Feb 18, midnight
Nor should we be. An expert on the original high-tech nexus explains why all these technology clusters are unique and not able to be imitated. Instead, Seattle should build on its local strengths while remaining a key part of the global network of technology industries.
READ MORE 11 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Feb 5, 5 a.m.
The two companies have been walking a not-so-fine line as they tap into an enormous but ethically challenged mainland Internet market. Yahoo, especially, has been deferential. Maybe their merger should have conditions.
READ MORE COMMENT NOW
Posted Sat, Feb 2, 11 a.m.
As Microsoft gears up for a takeover battle with Yahoo, there could be an Exx factor.
READ MORE 5 COMMENTS
Posted Sat, Feb 2, 5 a.m.
The Redmond company makes products here but records software sales to PC makers and high-volume customers through an operation in Nevada, where there is no corporate tax. So Washington is missing out on revenue it could use for badly needed infrastructure needs – like replacement of the 520 bridge.
READ MORE 9 COMMENTS
Posted Thu, Jan 10, 5 a.m.
The appeal of Ron Paul sheds some light on why techies are attracted to minimal government. It's like smart software.
READ MORE 23 COMMENTSPosted Thu, Dec 27, 8 a.m.
In Washington, the Democrats are "routing" Republicans in money, recruitment, and centrist ideology, so much so that GOP defector Fred Jarrett says his former party has positioned itself outside the "governing coalition."
READ MORE 9 COMMENTS
Posted Tue, Dec 18, 10 a.m.
Plaintiff Peter Tilton said a reporter broke her word in naming him in an article about difficult coworkers. But the jury said no promise existed.
READ MORE COMMENT NOW
Posted Sun, Nov 18, 5 p.m.
As the Internet behemoth introduces more online services, it's finding ways to gather data about you that are increasingly expansive, specific, and valuable. Is it time to get nervous, or should we just continue to enjoy the free services?
READ MORE 9 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Nov 14, noon
In Seattle, the CNN star whacks Boeing, Bill Gates, and the Bush-Clinton dynasty – plus he predicts that none of the current 2008 presidential candidates will make it to the White House. Or perhaps that's just wishful thinking.
READ MORE 3 COMMENTS
Posted Wed, Oct 3, 5 a.m.
Fifty years ago, the launch of the first satellite changed the world, but one of the places that felt the impact most was Seattle. Not only did the orbiter alter the city's course, it influenced the generation of world-shapers that includes Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
READ MORE COMMENT NOW
Posted Fri, Aug 24, 5 a.m.
Exploring bipolar brilliance, Big Brother's guinea pigs, and the deep-fried Twinkies diet.
READ MORE 9 COMMENTSPosted Sun, Nov 9, 12:10 p.m. 2008
It's time to prime the economic pump, and local infrastructure needs are acute. But will the politics enable us to emulate China?
MOREPosted Wed, Oct 22, 12:51 p.m. 2008
TechFlash launches as part of Puget Sound Business Journal, with two respected technology reporters who jumped from
Posted Tue, Oct 21, 11:29 a.m. 2008
Two local luminaries join a forum proposing ways to turn around the Bush administration's neglect of the nation's technological competitiveness.
MOREPosted Sun, Oct 12, 1:20 p.m. 2008
The gloom may be overstated, but that's no reason for the business leadership of this region to keep abdicating from civic leadership.
MOREPosted Wed, Sep 24, 3 a.m. 2008
Now, we all know Microsoft was a big – like $200,000 big – supporter of Sound Transit's 2007 measure to expand light rail around Puget Sound. But as Mike Lindblom at The Seattle Times reported on Monday, the Redmond tech giant only plans to give $10,000 to the supporters of Proposition 1, this year's Sound Transit measure.
Sorry, Sound Transit. You are out of luck.
MOREPosted Fri, Sep 19, 10:18 a.m. 2008
Update: GOP challenger Dino Rossi leads Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire in the latest poll, by Strategic Vision, reports Horse's Ass. The numbers: Rossi 48, Gregoire 46, undecided 6, margin of error 3. Rossi now has led in three of four September polls. ...
MOREPosted Wed, Aug 13, 11:05 a.m. 2008
The current issue of Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter ($) tallies up personal income figures for Northwest metro areas. One shocker is how low the figure is for Portland, a booming area that is still shy on high-paying jobs. Or, conversely, how affluent Seattle is.
MOREPosted Thu, Jul 24, 11 a.m. 2008
In some moods, I think that Seattle's business renaissance has peaked. Starbucks is contracting, Microsoft is stumbling, Boeing is losing bids, Safeco is sold, and Washington Mutual is sinking. Has our formula of rapid growth spreading across the globe run into the wall?
But then I look at the front page of today's "Marketplace" section of The Wall Street Journal, where three of the four stories are about Seattle-based companies. There's the story of Microsoft's scramble in the executive suite, with the sudden departure of Kevin Johnson, formerly in charge of the Yahoo merger campaign; Costco reporting an earnings squeeze as the prices for merchandise are rising faster than they can pass along costs to its value-seeking customers; and Amazon doubling its second-quarter profits as customers shift from shopping by car to shopping by online.
MOREPosted Mon, Jul 7, 5:12 a.m. 2008
Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate and a half-time Seattle resident, is involved in an interesting new project. It's a Web site gathering quality commentary about "Creative Capitalism." It's well worth looking at.
MOREPosted Wed, Jul 2, 10 a.m. 2008
Wall Street Journal reporters Matthew Karnitschnig and Robert A. Guth today report that Microsoft is still in pursuit of Yahoo — Yahoo's search business, anyway — and is trying to team up with another media company, perhaps Times Warner or News Corp., to do a deal. Any day now we expect Microsoft to approach Crosscut, so anxious seem the Redmondians to get a piece of Yahoo. But today's WSJ story is much more than a few paragraphs about another twist in CEO Steve Ballmer's obsession. It's the backstory, an exclusive account, something which the paper typically prints the day a deal is announced. Maybe the editors got tired of waiting for closure. Aw, screw it, let's just run it now.
MORE