Housing bottom? Not yet. By CLU Center for Economic Research & Forecasting Weakness in housing activity and housing prices continues to be a major drag on the overall economy. My colleagues at CERF have long maintained that the homeownership rate (HOR) needs to fall back to its historical norm of […]

Theft rings push shoplifting rates to 5-year high By Oregon Small Business Association Shoplifting appears to be a growing problem for America’s retailers, and thieves are growing in their sophistication. That’s according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a prominent industry trade group that recently released its annual report detailing […]

Press Release below by Congressman Greg Walden WASHINGTON, D.C. —…[I]n letters to Oregon’s job creators this week, Rep. Walden is asking, “What stands in the way of you creating one more job?” He will highlight some of the submitted ideas in speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives […]

Chemical Regulation May Move From State to Local Level Balkanization of regulatory programs in Oregon? Betsy Earls Associated Oregon Industries Following recent events in California, there are emerging efforts in Oregon to move regulatory controls from the state level down to the hundreds of local governments. A current example is […]

By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog Recently, The Oregonian ran an article about the potential economic damage to the area economy if the NBA season were delayed or canceled. Since they have already canceled the first part of the season it is worth thinking carefully about how big an impact […]

by Steve Lutes U.S. Chamber of Commerce Good news for job creators. Legislation to repeal the onerous 3% withholding tax took a major step forward today with approval by the House Ways and Means Committee. Comments by Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) as well Congressmen […]

Forbes magazine has issued their top 10 nations to do business and the news is both good and bad for the United States. The good news is that U.S. made the list. The bad news is that ranked at #10 and has been beat out by Sweden and Ireland. The […]

Post Office TV Commercial tries to pull online customers away By Guest Opinion Oregon Small Business Association The latest U.S. Post Office TV commercial is trying to get the public to take a great leap backwards by not engaging in online transactions. The Post Office commercial tries to strike a […]

Reasons behind the new car sales surge Jose Mesa José Mesa Auto Wholesale, LLC  The data has been collected and it’s official that US new car sales were up in September from one year ago. Chrysler, Nissan and General Motors led at 27%, 25% and 20%, respectively. They were followed […]

Treasurer Wheeler seeks transparency of corporate political spending Treasurer asks SEC to require reports to provide openness for shareholders such as Oregon By Oregon State Treasurer SALEM – State Treasurer Ted Wheeler is seeking increased transparency about corporate political spending, which will make companies more accountable to their shareholders. The […]