By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog From the Wall Street Journal: “Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon became the first Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he’ll vote against Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second term as Federal Reserve chairman. In a statement ahead of Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee […]

US Senator Jeff Merkley Statement on Nomination of Ben Bernanke December 16, 2009 Press Release from US Senator Jeff Merkley WASHINGTON, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, issued the following statement on his intention to vote against Ben […]

Bill Conerly , Conerly Consulting LLC, “Businomics” Everyone knows that we have this huge fiscal stimulus.  I went looking for it.  I didn’t look everywhere, though.  We’ve had some tax cuts and increases in transfer payments.  The raw data on these subjects reflect not only policy, but the circumstances of […]

By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum This is highlights from the University of Oregon Portland Metro Business Index (PMBI) for the third quarter of 2009.  We thank KeyBank for their sponsor of this report. The PMBI fell 0.7% compared to the second quarter, and is down 15.3% compared to year […]

Synopsis of Article on AOI annual meeting. 1.) Keynote: Former Utah Gov. & Sec. Health-Human Services Mike Leviett speaks on health care reform 2.) Awards given: Pat Reiten, Pres. PacifiCorp; Steve Clark, Pres. Portland Tribune; and State Senator Bruce Starr. From Associated Oregon Industries, Oregon’s largests business lobby The 2009 […]

Oregon already is a leader in state income taxes, but now consider how much higher it will be if the 2001 Bush Tax Cuts will expire. By Oregon Tax News, Americans for Tax Reform did a calculation of what each state’s top income tax rate would be if the Bush […]

By Oregon BIZ Watch, There are four Measure 66 & Measure 67 ads on the TV airwaves and internet universe. Measure 66 and Measure 67 are the Oregon measures that raise business and income tax rates as part of the 2009-2010 budget approved by the Oregon Legislature. This Anti-Measure 66-67 […]

Inc. Magazine has announced their top entrepreneurs of the decade (2000-2009).  Here is the list: 1. Steve Jobs of Apple 2. Jeff Bezos Amazon 3. Jack Ma, Alibaba.com 4. Martha Stewart 5. Jack Mackey, Whole Foods 6. Leslie Blodgett, Bare Essentials 7. Marc Beniff, Salesforce.com 8. Mark Zuckerberg, facebook 9. […]

November Sales See Month-to-Month Growth, Offering Retailers Encouragement for Holiday Season–Sales Drop 0.8% from Last November, Reinforcing NRF’s Holiday Forecast– National Retailers Federation: Washington, December 11, 2009 — As shoppers – and retailers – set their sights on the holiday season, low prices and pent-up demand helped entice Americans back […]

By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum The LCBI declined just 0.4% in the third quarter of 2009, a significant improvement in the pace of decline that signals a greatly diminished level of economic stress in the region.  Highlights of the LCBI include: •    Labor markets were mixed. Continuing declines in […]