Ireland’s Economic Crisis: A Brief Summary By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics Ireland’s economy was stagnant in the early years of the 20th century. Liberalization of international trade taxes and rules in the 1960s allowed the economy to begin keeping pace with the rest of Europe, but that wasn’t saying […]

Data show Multnomah County is second to last in private-sector job creation when ranked among 199 Western state counties, Portland-metro region is lagging compared to peers. Portland Business Alliance PORTLAND, Ore. – Today, business and community leaders released a report, compiled by ECONorthwest, showing that the Portland-metro economy suffers from […]

Portland Public School bond issue will give Portland the highest property taxes in the state by Eric Fruits, Economist EconInternational In my life as an economist, I have never seen the word “historical” attached to a bond issue. But “historical” is the word local media has attached to Portland Public […]

Online privacy shrinks as new tracking tools advance By Oregon Tax News, The majority of Internet users are not aware that marketers, identity thieves and even web-privacy companies have the ability to track their web behavior. Even the most careful internet users leave electronic paper trails for interested parties to […]

U.S. Chamber Expresses Support for Public Employee Pension Transparency Act Legislation Will Ensure Transparency of Underfunded State Pension Plans By U.S. Chamber of Commerce WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today expressed its support for the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act introduced by Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA). The Act would […]

Governor Kulongoski provides six step plan to reduce deficits in 2011-13 budget Governor and Reset Cabinet update report based on December forecast; Outlines six steps to reduce $3.5 billion deficit by two-thirds in the upcoming 2011-13 biennium. By Governor Ted Kulongoski Office (Salem) – Governor Ted Kulongoski was joined by […]

9 Ways To Avoid Holiday Party Pitfalls (and Liability) By Matt Durham Stoel Rives LLP, Oregon Law Firm According to recent poll by the Society of Human Managers (SHRM), fewer employers are foregoing holiday parties this year than in 2009. Although the economy continues to sputter, many employers likely see […]

— Largest One-Month Employment Increase in Nearly Five Years — Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 7,600 — Government added 20,100 jobs in October By Oregon Employment Department Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.5 percent in October, unchanged from the revised figure of 10.5 percent in September. The rate has […]

Trade War: What Does It Mean for Business and the Economy? By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics With the latest GDP report I have updated my economic outlook and extended the forecast period through 2012. It maybe looks a little better, but still not wonderful. The key to my cyclical […]

The Facts about Sen. Wyden’s State Waiver Provision By Senator Ron Wyden In order to empower states to create innovative new approaches for providing quality, affordable health insurance that works best for them, Senator Wyden authored a provision in the Healthy Americans Act and the PPAC Act that would make […]