Archives

December 17, 2018 - Ind-Contractor Misclassification fine cost $3.5M

By Barran Liebman LLP Oregon law firm A recent judgment by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon requires the owner of a courier service, Gerald Brazie, Jr., and three of his Portland-based companies (Senvoy LLC, Driver Resources LLC, and ZoAn Management Inc.) to pay their drivers $3,087,100 […]


December 14, 2018 - Oregon construction, manufacturing, payroll all up

Timothy A. Duy Director, Oregon Economic Forum Department of Economics, University of Oregon Below is the University of Oregon State of Oregon Economic Indicators for October 2018. The release date is December 6, 2018. Special thanks to our sponsor, KeyBank The Oregon Measure of Economic Activity rose to 0.83 in […]


December 13, 2018 - Portland Airbnb: 75% in violation

By Oregon Small Business Association, More than 75 percent of the people renting homes in Portland through Airbnb, Vacasa and other online sites are doing so in violation of city regulations. Portland city auditors discovered that four of every five short-term rentals operate illegally, but the city hasn’t enforced the […]


December 12, 2018 - Feds close fake document business

By Oregon Small Business Association Federal officials shut down an Oregon man’s website that sold fake documents identity thieves could use to defraud innocent victims. Steven Simmons, who operated www.noveltyexcuses under the company name of Integrated Flight Solutions of Beaverton, agreed to permanently shut down his business as part of […]


December 11, 2018 - Wyden: Texting and free speech

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden  called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to classify text messaging as a telecommunications service. During its open meeting on Dec. 12, the FCC will vote on a proposed declaratory ruling classifying text messaging as an information service, which would permit telephone […]


December 10, 2018 - Household Spending: Ore. speeds past nation

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis The strong economy is reaching all corners with employment rates and household incomes rising. One result is households are feeling pretty good right now. Balance sheets have been repaired. Debt, while rising, is in line with income gains, meaning there is no […]


December 8, 2018 - 3 factors most impacting markets

by Timothy D. Carkin Senior Vice President Ferguson Wellman Oregon based Capitol Management Firm With a week subdued by a day of mourning, traders hoped market volatility would follow suit: it did not. In less than three trading sessions the S&P 500 traded down five percent, the Dow Jones Industrial […]


December 7, 2018 - 34% can’t find workers to hire

By NFIB, Small business job creation inched up in November, rising to a net addition of 0.19 workers per firm, according to NFIB’s monthly jobs report, released today. Sixteen percent of owners reported increasing employment an average of 2.9 workers per firm, unchanged from October, and 11 percent reported reducing […]


December 6, 2018 - Here comes the beer, wine, cider, vaping tax

By John A. Charles, Jr. Cascade Policy Institute, Governor Kate Brown’s top health care administrator is requesting that the legislature increase taxes on beer, wine, cider, cigarettes, cigars, and vaping pens. If approved, the taxes would result in $784 million in new revenue for the state over the next two […]


December 5, 2018 - Companies cancel perks: Gambling, limos, strip clubs

By Oregon Small Business Association, 2018 is the year of change for many companies.  This year, Spotify was rebuked for sending their top employees to strip clubs.  NIKE removed six executives for sexual harassment which included unwanted advances and trips to strip clubs.   Google employees walked out across the world […]