Washington State Has the Second Highest (Amazon) and the Third Highest (Microsoft) Stock Market Caps in the World, But Also Their Next 32 Largest Companies in Many Different Industries Had Their Total Pretax Income in 2017 Grow By an Incredible 33% Above That in 2016 ......................................................................................

From a review of US SEC filings, there were 34 Companies headquartered in the State of Washington with stock market caps of more than $1 Bil recently.

These exceptional 34 Washington Cos posted Audited Gold-Standard US GAAP Total Pretax Income From Continuing Operations in Fiscal Year Ended (FYE) 2017 of $69.744 Bil, an Increase of 25% Above That in FYE 2016 of $55.805 Bil.  

And when the Two Gold-Plated Giants Amazon and Microsoft are excluded, the other 32 Washington Companies performed even better on the earnings front, posting Audited Gold-Standard US GAAP Total Pretax Income From Continuing Operations in Fiscal Year Ended (FYE) 2017 of $29.468 Bil, an incredible increase of 33% above that in FYE 2016 of $22.108 Bil.

Nearly all Republicans, a high percentage of Independents and even many perceptive Democrats all agree as a starting point that for US capitalism to work properly, Companies must generate in the aggregate reasonably healthy profits.  And did this ever happen with the State of Washington's Companies in 2017.

My Focus is on Pretax Income Rather Than on After-Tax Net Income Because Income Taxes are Simply a Transfer of Financial Wealth Between US Corporations and the US Federal, US State and Foreign Governments.  It Has Nothing Whatsoever to do with Company Operating Performance.

From a review of SEC filings, the chart below shows the Audited Gold-Standard US GAAP Pretax Income (Loss) From Continuing Operations for the Years Ended 2017 and 2016 for these 34 Washington State Companies.

				Year	Year
				2017	2016
				Audited	Audited
				Pretax	Pretax
				Income	Income
				(Loss)	(Loss)
				From	From
Washington State Companies	City	State	2017	Continuing	Continuing	Better
Stock Market Caps Above $1 Bil	HQs	HQs	FYE	Operations	Operations	(Worse)
				$ mils	$ mils	%
The Two Tech Software & Services Giants
Microsoft (World's 3rd Highest Stock Market Cap)	Redmond	WA	Jun 18	36,474	29,901	22%
Amazon (World's 2nd Highest Stock Market Cap)	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	3,802	3,796	0%
All Other Washington State Companies
Boeing	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	10,047	5,568	80%
Starbucks	Seattle	WA	Sep 17	4,318	4,199	3%
Costco	Issaquah	WA	Aug 17	4,039	3,619	12%
T-Mobile US	Bellevue	WA	Dec 17	3,161	2,327	36%
Paccar	Bellevue	WA	Dec 17	2,173	1,130	92%
Fortive Corp	Everett	WA	Dec 17	1,284	1,197	7%
Alaska Air Group	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	1,207	1,345	-10%
Nordstrom	Seattle	WA	Jan 18	790	684	15%
Expeditors Intl Washington	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	719	687	5%
Weyerhaeuser	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	716	504	42%
F5 Networks	Seattle	WA	Sep 17	576	550	5%
Expedia	Bellevue	WA	Dec 17	417	277	51%
Washington Federal	Seattle	WA	Sep 17	256	248	3%
Avista	Spokane	WA	Dec 17	198	215	-8%
Columbia Banking System	Tacoma	WA	Dec 17	178	150	19%
Esterline Technologies	Bellevue	WA	Sep 17	153	136	13%
Banner Corp	Walla Walla	WA	Dec 17	151	130	16%
Itron	Liberty Lake	WA	Dec 17	135	85	59%
Potlatch Deltic	Spokane	WA	Dec 17	118	7	1586%
Mercer Intl	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	104	59	76%
TrueBlue	Tacoma	WA	Dec 17	78	(20)	NM
Heritage Financial	Olympia	WA	Dec 17	60	53	13%
Trupanion	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(2)	(7)	NM
Redfin	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(15)	(23)	NM
Apptio	Bellevue	WA	Dec 17	(25)	(31)	NM
Smartsheet	Bellevue	WA	Jan 18	(49)	(15)	NM
Avalara	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(65)	(57)	NM
Seattle Genetics	Bothell	WA	Dec 17	(159)	(140)	NM
Tableau Software	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(179)	(137)	NM
Zillow Group	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(184)	(220)	NM
Alder Biopharmaceuticals	Bothell	WA	Dec 17	(289)	(156)	NM
Juno Therapeutics	Seattle	WA	Dec 17	(443)	(256)	NM
Total all 32 Cos Excluding Microsoft and Amazon				29,468	22,108	33%
Total all 34 Washington State Companies				69,744	55,805	25%