[Spunky]

"Economically, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon have been hit hard by the Great Recession."

You must not live in Eastern Wa. I do and this is what is happening here. Tri-Cities fastest growth in US

Western WA and Western Or are very liberal but East of the Cascades are pretty much conservative. Also WA has no state income tax where Oregon and Idaho do.

[zeestephen]

Yes, I live in Seattle, not eastern Washington.

Thanks for the great news about the Tri-Cities.

Just a couple weeks ago I was looking at the county unemployment map for Washington state, and I came away with the impression that WestWA was doing significantly better than EastWA.

I stand corrected.

[steve86]

I also live in the Tr-Cities. Know of several families who have had their homes on the market over a year. The “growth” is occurring in certain select sectors while others stagnate. When the federal government cuts off Hanford cleanup money those sectors that have been strong will die, while those stagnate now will still be stagnate. The economic diversification line is B.S. — it is most all tied to Hanford.