By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum sponsor, KeyBank. The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators™ rose 0.2 percent to 86.2 (1997=100), the first increase since June. Compared to six months ago, more than half the index components declined while the UO Index fell 6.4 percent (annualized). Highlights of the […]

By National Conference of State Legislature, Balancing the budget could become more difficult in several statehouses across the country after Tuesday night. Generally speaking, voters on Tuesday made it more difficult for legislatures to pass tax increases, yet gave consent to programs with high price tags and no revenue stream. […]

By Oregon Employment Department Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in September, unchanged from August. The rate has been between 10.5 and 10.7 percent for the most recent 11 months. Oregon’s unemployment rate was 11.0 percent in September 2009. In September, 196,303 Oregonians were unemployed, the fewest since […]

Ninth Circuit: Employee holding a web site for ransom violated Anti-Cybersquatting Act By Ater Wynne, Oregon Law Firm, The Ninth Circuit ruled last week in DSPT International, Inc. v. Nahum that a defendant who lawfully owns and uses a domain name may violate the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACCPA), […]

Shifting Full-time Employees to Part-time By NFIB Some small business owners elect to offer part-time employment to give workers flexibility and a more even work/life balance. In this economy, many others have made the move to part-time employees out of financial necessity.  Either way, there are pluses and minuses. Before […]

Health care policy: New research on the Oregon Health Plan By Dr. Eric Fuits, Oregon Economist EconInternational The Oregon Health Plan has been called a “bold experiment” designed to expand health insurance to Oregon’s low-income residents. Its promoters promised the impossible: To expand health insurance coverage while simultaneously controlling costs […]

Poll: Economists, Businesses and Home Owners Still Pessimistic about the Economy By Oregon Tax News Economists: The National Association of Business Economics (NABE) recently released a survey by top economists forecasting that the economy will grow at a slower pace than expected over the next couple of years. The 46 […]

What the election means for business — Four views from four business commentaries and reports from The Wall Street Journal, Chamber of Commerce, Forbes Magazine and BusinessWeek. Wall Street Journal in “Businesses Seek to Sway Incoming Wave of Republicans” “Executives at the Business Roundtable, a group made up of the […]

This weekend, national news magazine 60 Minutes aired a segment about taxing the rich. The story included a lot of attention on Washington’s Income Tax on High Earners Measure 1098 and also a cameo from a former businessman who fled Portland to escape Oregon’s tax climate. Text highlight of ex-Portland […]

AD WATCH By Oregon Small Business Association Media savvy NIKE has delivered an ad that goes to the heart of the James LeBron controversy. A controversy that one CBS Sports analyst said “The hatred of LeBron James is getting totally out of control. It’s starting to make people lose all […]