BOISE -- Jeff Russell is the CEO of Easy Office ...A young outsourcing accounting company in Boise that's actually added jobs in recent months.

And his sense is the fear of imminent economic catastrophe is fading.

"Three months ago a lot of people were scared," Russell said. "They were "sitting tight, not doing anything. We're seeing an easing of that."

That's also the thrust of a high profile Sunday New York Times article that profiles how Boise is coping with recession and stimulus.

But why put Boise under a national microscope? That's what we asked Times economics reporter Peter Goodman.

"I didn't throw a dart at the map," Goodman said in a telephone interview. "I looked at the data. I was looking for a metropolitan area whose experience was close to the national one. Boise has gone from low unemployment to high unemployment in a short time."

"Can programs aimed at reinvigorating the financial system make money flow, allowing companies to expand and hire?" Goodman wrote in the Times. "Will federal spending amount to something like a piñata at a children’s birthday party, with the proceeds scattered willy-nilly? Or will that money help catalyze a genuine economic renewal?"

Boise, he writes, is as good a place as any to try to figure this out. In many respects, the local economy presents a microcosm of the recent American experience, making it a useful laboratory.

And Goodman says the local housing crunch mirrors the national mess, but he says area realtors now report a renewed interest from first time buyers.

"And it's being driven by the tax break for first time buyers of eight thousand dollars," said local realtor Michael Hummel.

The Times articles concludes -- and local economists agree -- when we finally get a grip on the economy nationally, Boise should be in a good position to recover.