The WTO isn't the only thing going on in town. It looks like port container truck drivers are poised to go on strike again. After a series of job actions in late August and early September, drivers gave the Port of Seattle a 30-day grace period in which to make progress on drivers' demands for union recognition. Surprise--the Port of Seattle has done nothing. So the drivers, backed by Teamsters' local 174, are prepared to raise the stakes; one local union organizer calls additional strikes "virtually inevitable." And given that the trade-friendly Port of Seattle is a public agency, support from non-union community activists would be particularly useful as the sad situation escalates once again.--Geov Parrish

Oregon governor John Kitzhaber unveiled an elaborate new four-state plan last month to control the electricity and the dams of the Columbia/Snake River system. That in itself is notable--there's a move afoot in Congress to allow diversion of some of the Northwest's cheap, subsidized electricity to California--but here's a different question: where the hell is Gary Locke? As governor of the most populous state in the region, you'd expect Locke to be taking a leadership role in crafting a plan for stewardship of one of the region's most valuable resources. Nada. Like on so many other issues, Locke seems to be missing in action. Being a Clintonian Democrat, maybe that's a good thing, but still ... he is getting paid to be the state's chief executive, and aside from his Republican budgets, there's been precious little evidence of it during his two years in office.--G.P.

A little-noticed article in the Wall Street Journal (9/13/99, A2) caught my attention, because it revealed, among other things, how the government and corporate America measures inflation. Entitled "Producer Price Index's 0.5% Rise, Tied To Food, Energy, Masks Broader Drop," the article went on to discuss huge jumps in the cost of wholesale food and gas prices, which means you and I will pay more for food and transportation costs in the coming months. But the article went on to reassure investors that most other items--especially automobiles and computers--actually dropped in price, so inflation should stay low. Naturally, this means the Producer Price Index is skewed. For those of us who don't buy a new car and computer every year, but have to eat and travel to work every day, inflation is on the rise, and it's rising fast. Add an 88% jump in oil prices this year to rising food costs plus the escalating price of housing in the Puget Sound area (where housing costs are rising faster than almost anywhere else in the U.S.), and local inflation is skyrocketing. But forget about eating and finding a place to live; that new Nissan Pathfinder is cheaper than ever!--Maria Tomchick

Not only is the Producer Price Index off kilter, but so is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite Index. Those "indices" are quoted every night on the TV news to show that the U.S. economy is flying high. But what do these indices really measure? Four major technology stocks make up about 25% of the Nasdaq composite, for example, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is being dominated by the stocks of 50 large, "popular" companies--less than 1% of the companies that offer stocks on the broad market. And stock prices can have very little relationship to a company's actual performance. Amazon.com has yet to make a profit, yet its stock price is still climbing, and it took only one guffaw last week from Steve Ballmer to send Microsoft stock plunging. Analysts are finally beginning to point to examples that we're already in a recession: average stock prices have fallen nearly 20% since April 1998, nearly 90% of all stock is held by only 10% of the wealthiest households in the U.S., the income gap is growing to levels not seen since the 1920s, and a rising trade deficit (fueled in part by those rich folks buying cheap imported cars and computers) has driven down the value of the dollar. Let's see, wasn't that little Asian economic crisis last year sparked off by a currency collapse? Can you say "sinkhole economy?"--M.T. Some sources: "Bull market 'died' in 1998 but Wall Street didn't hear," P-I (Reuters), 9/20/99, C2; "Wealth Gap Grows; Why Does It Matter?," Wall Street Journal, 9/13/99, A1; "Deficit drives down dollar," P-I (New York Times), 9/22/99, D1; and "Dollar's relative weakness rattles markets," P-I (AP), 8/9/99.

But just because a high trade deficit can touch off a currency collapse and a recession, doesn't mean trade is all bad, according to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its supporters. The WTO and local trade reps are quaking in their Italian, patent-leather wingtips over press coverage of anti-WTO groups in the Weekly, the P-I, the Seattle Times, and even the Wall Street Journal. In response, some of the largest companies in the U.S. have formed a new group to spout pro-trade propaganda: the U.S. Alliance for Trade Expansion. Its membership includes Boeing, Paccar, General Electric, IBM, Procter & Gamble, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The group plans to set up a "war room" in Seattle in the weeks prior to the WTO conference to issue press releases about how "global trade is responsible for America's booming economy." (Ha ha.) But the backlash has already started: the P-I, for example, ran a pro-trade front page article last week that even gave readers the websites for the WTO, the Seattle Host Committee, and other pro-trade groups ... and tacked on Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch website at the very bottom (to avoid the "appearance of bias," no doubt). But this response shows how startlingly effective the anti-WTO activists have been. Naturally, it helps that they have the facts on their side--but it also takes lots of hard work to get a generally pro-business media to cover an issue like this. Great job, folks.--M.T.