NW Business Litigation Blog Ater Wynne Oregon Attorneys at Law, The “tax gap” is the difference between what the IRS collects and what it thinks it is owed.  In 2005, the IRS estimated the gap was $345 billion, including approximately $60 billion in employment taxes.  To help close the gap, […]

State Reprseentative Paul Holvey Press Release, House Committee Passes Key Consumer Protection Bills SALEM — The House Consumer Protection & Government Accountability Committee, chaired by Rep. Paul Holvey (D-Eugene), passed the following bills of note out of committee. HB 3624: Requires appraisal management companies (AMCs), which are often owned and […]

Markets Don’t Stay Bad Forever: Cycles, Trends, and an Oil Refining Example By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics, The report on retail sales shows that consumers are loosening their purse strings, continuing a trend that is now about a year old, though with plenty of backsliding along the way. Some […]

By Associated Oregon Industries, In testimony Monday morning before a joint session of the House and Senate Revenue Committees, state economist Tom Potiowsky proclaimed that the state’s recession was over, but predicted a jobless recovery through 2010.  Potiowsky even warned of the prospects of a “double dip” recession if the […]

Nearly Forty Percent of Workers Have Dated a Co-Worker, Finds Annual CareerBuilder Valentine’s Day Survey. Nearly One-Third End Up Marrying Co-Workers They Dated Career Builders Survey — Economy up, economy down, one thing remains the same: love is in the air at the office. Nearly four-in-ten (37 percent) workers said […]

BY Oregon Small Business Association, William Poundstone’s bottom line: consumers don’t really know what anything should cost. In his book “Priceless,” Poundstone zestfully and entertainingly explains the economics, psychology, and intellectual reasoning surrounding the ways in which producers and sellers take advantage of buyers’ lack of knowledge. Cost and price […]

By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog A rather depressing sense of self-satisfaction seems to have consumed the state democrats after the passage of Measures 66 & 67. But celebrating their passage as a major political victory, and allowing their passage to become an excuse not to immediately address the revenue […]

By Moore Information Polling Annual Sessions for Oregon Legislature “Would you vote yes to approve or no to oppose annual sessions for the state legislature?” Our recent poll shows Oregon voters support annual sessions for the state legislature by more than a two-to-one margin. Today, 52% of voters statewide tell […]

by Dennis Westlind Stoel Rives LLP, Attorneys at Law Most of us assume that if an employee swears at a manager or, he or she can be disciplined or even fired. That assumption may be wrong, depending on the context in which the swearing occurs. A federal judge recently held […]

I just updated my economic forecast, taking into account the new GDP data released by the government last week.  Fourth quarter growth came in stronger than I had expected–and everyone has been telling me I’m an optimist! Here’s how the new forecast looks: