This chart from Forbes magazine shows how America has more billionaires than the remaining top nine nations.  When billionaires are sorted out by city the city with the most billionaires is Moscow at 78.  New York is second with 58 and London is second with 39 billionaires.

Unemployment Increase Looming? By Oregon Economics CLU Center for Economics Research and Forecasting I ran across this piece on five people who have left the labor force. It a why-and-how-are-they-dealing-with-it type of thing. What struck me was that four of the five were either back in college or planning on […]

Oregonians Need a Raise By Oregon Prosperity Project New Data: Oregon incomes 15% less than Washington incomes. New 2011 data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis indicates that when it comes to per capita incomes, compared to the rest of the U.S., Washington and Oregon are on diverging tracks. […]

An Update on Employer Use of Criminal Background Checks from the EEOC By Barran Liebman LLP Oregon law firm The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has now modernized its stance on the use of criminal background checks by employers, a topic it had not formally weighed in on in over […]

Two Oregon businesses have just filed for bankruptcy. By Oregon Small Business Association Portland’s HemCon Medical Technologies Inc., makes bandages for wounded warriors. With only 65 employees, HemCon had revenues of $73 million four years ago. But for more than six years, it has been the target of a patent-infringement […]

by Sean Hackbarth Free Enterprise U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday feels like forever ago when Al Armendariz resigned as an EPA Regional Administrator after his “crucify” oil and gas company comment zipped around the internet. Today, both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal tackle what his comments mean for […]

Video of the week goes to WSJ for experts talking about what is Facebook worth and the fear of it being over-valued at the start of their IPO.

Tim Duy Oregon Economic Forum University of Oregon Economic indicators were again mixed in February 2012. As expected, the Oregon Measure of Economic Activity rebounded to -0.34 from an upwardly revised -1.10 in February (“zero” for this measure indicates the average growth rate over the 1990-present period). The three-month moving […]

by Bill Conerly Conerly Consulting, Businomics I’ve described my international economic forecast over on my Forbes site, comparing my views to the recent International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook, April 2012. For a quick preview, consider the risks to the global economic outlook: International Forecast

Taking a Bite Out of Wage and Hour Audits — Portland restaurateurs take heed, the Department of Labor could come knocking on your door soon! By Barran Liebman LLP Oregon law firm On April 5, 2012, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor unveiled a Fair […]