Turns out we’re not the only ones that harbor some doubt about Microsoft’s ability to single-handedly shelter Seattle from a housing downturn. That exact subject was the topic of a recent Times editorial by Brier Dudley.
Microsoft may not be minting millionaires anymore, but it’s growing at a time when Seattle’s glad for anything that can keep its housing market from crashing like in other parts of the country.
The company has buffered the region before. But the question I have, as we watch for darkening clouds, is whether Microsoft will have that same effect if the economy hits a truly rough patch in the future. It no longer has the same flexibility, now that its growth is slower, its investors are more restless and its latest venture — advertising — is more cyclical.
Being an opinion article, it is understandably light on hard facts and research, but it gets across the point that while Microsoft’s effect on the region is certainly positive, it’s probably not positive enough to save us from the inevitable.
Duh.
(Brier Dudley, Seattle Times, 10.15.2007)