Archives

May 24, 2009 - Stimulus Bill Revisited — Oregon Continuation Coverage

Bullard Smith Jernstedt Wilson BULLARD eAlert 2/26: Readers of our February 16 and April 6 Bullard Alerts know that the federal stimulus bill, titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (and now known as ARRA), provides a subsidy for continuation coverage in certain cases and opened a window […]


May 23, 2009 - DOL Provides Guidance on Employee Notice for FMLA Leave

The Department of Labor recently released an Opinion Letter regarding how much advance notice an employee must provide for FMLA leave when 30 days notice is not practicable. The Opinion Letter clarified that employers may enforce internal call-in policies so long as the procedural requirements for requesting leave are consistent […]


May 22, 2009 - Inventory Swings: Watch Your Ultimate Customer

By Bill Conerly, Businomics, Conerly Consulting An excellent Wall Street Journal article, “Clarity is Missing Link in Supply Chain,” accentuates a point made in my favorite economics book, that inventory swings are tremendously destabilizing.  Here’s a stunning macroeconomic impact: “In March, Best Buy Co. said it could have sold more […]



May 21, 2009 - The Governors Make-Work Plan and the Minimum Wage

By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog I have been asked by a couple of readers for my take on the governors plan to temporarily employ 12,000 people who are currently unemployed. The short answer is (Grinch that I am): I am not sure I get it. Presumably many/most of the […]




May 20, 2009 - Will the Portland plan escape plummeting ticket sales.

By Oregon Tax News, At a time when ticket sales and attendance at sporting venues across the country seem to be plunging, the city of Portland is relying on its own counter projections of increased attendance and ticket sales in order to finance its new baseball stadium.   As you may […]


May 20, 2009 - Fast Fact: Housing Starts hit all-time low

“Housing Starts Dropped Sharply as Multi-Family Activity Collapsed. Starts dropped to a new all-time low of just 458,000 units as multi-family activity dropped to a mere 90,000 units at an annual pace. The more volatile multi-family series has been the driver behind several large drops in recent months. Single-family activity […]


May 19, 2009 - Revenue Forecast: Budget Deficit Smaller than Expected

John Marshall Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s Largest Business Lobby The bad news out of the just-released state economic and revenue forecast is that Oregon’s economy is still in recession and, as a result, state tax revenue is still dropping.  The good news is that the revenue decline is not as […]