The Federal Reserve gave its latest take on the economy today, with the release of the “beige book.” I’d say beige is an appropriate color for this book.

The report is filled with forceful insights like this one:

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicate that economic conditions have generally improved modestly since the last report.

And:

Manufacturing conditions were said to be, on balance, steady to moderately improving across most of the country, while conditions in the nonfinancial service sector generally strengthened somewhat, though with some variation across Districts and across industries.

If you want, I’ll save you the time of reading more of the Fed’s copy:

Energy: not terrible
Agriculture: underwater
Home sales: meh
Tourism: comme ci comme ca
Construction: yuck
The job market: ugh with potential
Prices: up and down
Loans and credit: blah
Commercial real estate: #*$#(#!!!

That’s how I read it anyway.