Steep price hikes under Obamacare By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon Health insurance prices on the Obamacare exchanges have been published on HealthCare.gov, and it’s not good news. Higher premiums, higher deductibles, and fewer choices. Fewer plans: Last year, residents in Portland, Oregon had a choice of 87 plans. This year, […]

by Deidra Krys-Rusoff Senior Vice President Ferguson Wellman, A leading Oregon financial firm Disappointing corporate earnings forecasts outweighed a Microsoft surge and increased deal activity to end the week basically flat for the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and NASDAQ. Worldwide stock markets also turned in lackluster performances for the week. […]

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden Press Release, Following pressure from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and his colleagues, the Federal Communication Commission’s Enforcement Bureau today announced that Comcast will pay a $2.3 million fine to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV customers for services and equipment that […]

US Chamber, Carlos Gutierrez, chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Cuba Business Council,  issued the following statement regarding the Obama administration’s further amendments to Cuba sanctions regulations: “The administration’s announcement is a welcomed step forward in the pursuit of greater opportunity for the U.S. private sector to collaborate with […]

By Steve Buckstein Cascade Policy Institute, Trying to sell voters on the largest tax increase in Oregon history, Measure 97 proponents claim that “Oregon ranks dead last in corporate taxes.” But the nation’s leading independent tax policy research organization, The Tax Foundation, says this claim is misleading. It looked at three ways to rate corporate […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog Oregon businesses reported 61,000 job vacancies in summer 2016. That marks an increase of 19,700 job vacancies from the prior summer, and the largest number of job vacancies recorded in the state since the Oregon Job Vacancy Survey began in 2008. […]

University of Oregon Economic Indexes By Tim Duy Oregon Economic Forum University of  Oregon Oregon Statewide Economic Indicators: Incoming data continue to indicate that Oregon is in the midst of a more mature stage of the business cycle as the pace of growth levels off after the acceleration out of […]

 by Jason Norris, CFA Executive Vice President of Research Ferguson Wellman, A leading Oregon financial firm A Nobel Prize for Bob Dylan couldn’t buoy the markets last week. Uncertainty in China and a rocky start to earnings season resulted in a down week for stocks. While equities rallied on Friday, […]

By NFIB, Brace yourselves, owners: Hillary Clinton‘s plans to raise the estate tax could be a huge hit to small businesses and farmers. The Democratic presidential candidate has proposed an increase to a top rate of 65 percent, a number that small business owners and farmers fear could put them […]

By Oregon Employment Department, Oregon’s minimum wage will increase each year through 2022, as outlined in Senate Bill 1532, which was passed on March 2, 2016.  The Oregon Employment Department has studied this topic from many angles. For example, we know minimum wage jobs account for about 5 percent of […]