The Economy a snapshot, but there is another way of looking at the economy that is more of an impressionist painting.

The Beige book is a report the Federal Reserve puts out every few months after talking with business

owners and labor leaders, non- nonprofit executives, people with important perspectives

sprinkled throughout the economy.

The latest edition released yesterday paints a picture of a

softening US economy.

Three quarters of Fed districts reported flat or falling economic activity in the last two

months as Marketplace's Henry Epp reports.

In Kentucky, Marina owners told Fed officials that fewer people were renting boats this summer,

and those who did take them out often anchored in coves to go swimming rather than cruising around

to save on gas.

That pretty much sums up economic activity observed by the

Fed in the last few months. Some of us still splurged on travel, but even then we were

finding ways to pinch pennies. Consumer spending slowed down in much of the country, so did

manufacturing activity and many areas saw weaker home sales and residential

construction and while not many companies laid people off, the job market was pretty flat, except for some

skilled positions. As a labor official in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan put it, anyone with a commercial

driver's license or mechanic license is still in high demand. I'm Henry App for

Marketplace. This week the price of a Costco membership increased for the first time

in seven years from $60 a year to 65.

The company is also cracking down on membership sharing,

kind of like how Netflix cracked down on password sharing.

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