What happens when a city defaults?  The answer may impact your investments By Albert Gallatin, This week Harrisburg, Pennsylvania announced it would miss its quarterly scheduled bond payment.  Although holders of the bonds would still get paid, thanks to bond insurance which most investors demand from municipal issuers, the default […]

Rise in Hours Portends Job Gains by David Cooke Oregon Employment Dept. Oregon average weekly hours data indicate that in some respects businesses are poised for economic recovery. For the state as a whole, the average workweek for manufacturing production workers is back to normal. In June, this average was […]

Economic Volatility: What I Told the Governor By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics Governor Kulongoski met with his Council of Economic Advisers last week. Here’s what I told him: 1. The economy is becoming more volatile. The period 1983-2007 was the calmest ever in American history, in terms of macroeconomic […]

By J.L. Wilson, By Associated Oregon Industries Oregon’s largest business advocate Last week, The Standard, Portland Business Alliance and Associated Oregon Industries hosted Glenn Spencer, Executive Director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative, US Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Spencer gave a presentation to members on the federal legislative and regulatory agenda […]

Portland is one of the largest cities that has no sales tax By Oregon Tax News, A recent report released by the Washington D.C. based Tax Foundation, shows how major metropolitan cities compare with sales tax.  Portland and Anchorage, Alaska have the title of the largest cities in the country […]

August Oregon Ad Watch By Oregon Small Business Association, Two full-page advertisements stood out in the month of August for the state’s largest newspaper. First, Wal-Mart placed a full-page ad going head-to-head with Office Depot by listing 16 school items by price comparison.   The key sell was highlighting the 45% […]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Magazine business poll. 47.1% — Government spending 39.7% — Unemployment rate/overall health of the economy 3.5% — Energy and the environment 2.2% — National security 2.9% — Social issues 4.6% — Other

Latest state economic forecast and impacts of Measures 66 & 67 By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational This is a “told you so” story about Measures 66 & 67 … In December 2009, Randall Pozdena and I published research forecasting the impacts of Measures 66 and 67 on Oregon employment […]

By Tony Wendel Oregon Employment Department In Oregon, the union membership rate – the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union – rose slightly from 16.6 percent in 2008 to 17.0 percent in 2009. The rate increased even though the number of wage and salary […]

“This Onerous Provision Will Cost Jobs.” A Good Letter Urging Repeal of New 1099 Rules By Joseph M. Wallin Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP NW law firm Many, many business groups and writers have come out against the new 1099 rules which were contained in section 9006 of the “Patient Protection […]