sinsboldly wrote:
CanyonWind wrote:
On an unrelated note, something I've wondering about. Even before the recent economic crash, Oregon had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Washington seems to be geographically identical to Oregon, but for some reason the economy of Washington seems to do much better. I've wondered what the difference is.
Microsoft and Starbucks is in Washington State.
Erg. No, that isn't why. Starbucks is not a major employer, and hasn't been for a few years. Microsoft is, certainly; but it's far from our only major industry. There's also Boeing, Valve, Amazon, Adobe, and Weyerhaeuser. We also have multiple major biotech and other technology-focussed industries.
There are numerous reasons why Washington State is more economically powerful overall than Oregon or Idaho, it's near neighbors. Our economy diversified widely some time back; while Oregon remained much more dependent on agriculture, wood products, and other natural resources. Most of Oregon's high-tech industry went out with the dotcom bust, and much of the support infrastructure went with it, making it less attractive to newer high-tech companies than California or Washington State. Washington also maintains a much stronger link with overseas economies, particularly Japan, Korea, and more recently China; and hosts the US branches of many major Japanese and Korean corporations, most notably Nintendo USA. We also have a political climate that has been more consistently favourable to business; and new businesses/entrepreneurs in particular. Despite Oregon's heavy spending on education, they still lack the educational stature of their northern neighbor, with only 1 nationally ranked university, and few outstanding smaller schools. Washington, by contrast, has 4 nationally ranked universities, most notably the University of Washington and Washington State University; the former with multiple highly ranked programs including computer science, medicine, biotechnology, and business. There are also multiple smaller schools with well-regarded programs in art, music, science, and law. Of course, we also have one which has become something of a national joke as well.
Also, to correct the previous poster, Washington is geographically nowhere near identical to Oregon. In fact, it's one of the most unusual states in the entire US.