By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting LLC, Businonmics I try not rant in this blog.  I really try.  But here’s the Wall Street Journal headline:  “Housing Starts Rise, but Remain Subdued.”  On the other hand, CNBC says, ” Producer Prices, Housing Starts Post Surprise Drops.” Huh?  Did housing starts rise, or […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 11.5 percent in September from the revised August figure of 12.0 percent. September’s rate was the lowest since the 10.7 percent rate in February, and was down from the high of 12.2 percent in May. Nonetheless, the rate is […]

State Treasurer Ben Westlund receiving treatment for recurrence of cancer, is confident of recovery.  The flare-up was detected early and Westlund remains at work while undergoing therapy BY State Treasurer Office, SALEM – Oregon Treasurer Ben Westlund is receiving treatment to combat a recurrence of cancer, he disclosed today in […]

By Oregon Better Business Bureau, See full top 20 list here, Top 10 Complaints 1. Auto Dealers – New Cars 2. Television – Cable, CATV & Satellite 3. Auto Dealers – Used Cars 4. Auto Repair & Service 5*. Property Management 5*. Furniture – Retail 7. Video Tapes & Discs […]

By Oregon Business Report, A simple apology saved a business millions and satisfied customer complaints.  New studies show businesses can improve customer relations without dropping a rebate check in the mail.  Researchers at Britain’s Nottingham School of Economics tracked 632 customer complaints posted on a German eBay site.  In an […]

Oregon Provides Short Window for Taxpayer Amnesty; Those That Don’t Comply Get the Stick Written by Morgan Smith Miller Nash Oregon and Washington Law Firm Taxpayers having a tax deficiency and flying under the radar of the Oregon Department of Revenue were given a break when Governor Kulongoski signed Senate […]

MSN Money reports, “Nike Inc. co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight has sold more than $150 million of Nike stock in the past week, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. Knight sold 2.3 million shares for prices ranging between $64.13 and $66.34 starting Oct. […]

By Bill Conerly, Businomics, Conerly Consulting LLC “Technical debt” does NOT mean, “Technically, we’re in debt.”  Technical debt is what happens when a business puts up an application that isn’t perfect, then has to clean up bugs and scale issues in the future.  I heard the phrase for the first […]

Reuters reports, “World stocks hit a new 12-month high on Tuesday, powered by strong results from Apple Inc and Texas Instruments and helping to push the dollar to a new 14-month low against a basket of currencies. The strength in global stocks, up 75 percent from crisis-lows in March, boosted […]

By Nick Beleiciks, Senior Analyst Oregon Employment Department There were 18,242 job openings in Oregon this spring, according to the results of the 2009 Oregon Job Vacancy Survey. That was significantly fewer than the 47,888 job vacancies employers reported last spring. Despite the weaker economy, employers reported a tough time […]