By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog The Oregonian reports on Portland having received a rating as one of the safest walking cities in America—Portland was #9. But is it really a safe walking city? The methodology is seriously flawed. It is clearly designed to make a political point and not provide meaningful data. The […]

Mark Burles Senior Vice President Ipsos Public Affairs , Seattle I think the biggest decision the Obama Administration confronts in preparing for his upcoming visit to China is not what issues to raise with his hosts, but how to raise them. Addressing the key topics first, the issues we need […]

Polls show recession not over, and publis wants business to help not government From Oregon Small Business Association, 82% of Americans think the recession is not over 62% said business will play a larger role in helping the economy recovery than government 45% rated the economy as the most important […]

Portland & Keizer eyeballing additional telecom taxes without public vote By Pac-Tech Alliance, Both citing declining revenue from traditional wireline taxes the cities of Portland and Keizer have announced they are considering additional taxes on wireless telecommunications and other utilities without a public vote (even though voters have challenged or […]

Oregon Court of Appeals Upholds Claim of Negligent Failure to Investigate by P.K. Runkles-Pearson Stoel Rives LLP, Attorneys at Law In Steele v. Mayoral et al., the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that a plaintiff could take to the jury her claim that her employer had failed to prevent sexual […]

Numbers provided from Oregon Employment Department,

Latest Wells Fargo survey: expectations for increased revenues improve small business owner optimism Outlook also better for capital spending and credit availability From Wells Fargo Bank, Optimism among small business owners improved during October, driven by improved outlook for revenue, capital spending and hiring, according to the latest results of […]

Survey conducted by the Oregon Community Foundation Challenged by the recession, survey results show that nonprofits must take steps to contain costs and continue to serve their communities. In 2009, private donations have decreased by 50% while the demand for services has increased 12%. The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) surveyed  […]

By Tim Duy, Oregon Economic Forum Index highlights: •    The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators rose 0.1 percent in September to 84.4 from a revised August figure of 84.3.  The behavior of the Index remains consistent with an imminent end to the recession in Oregon; note that the […]

Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational Blog The Oregonian reports that Oregon state officials deliberately underestimated the cost the governor’s tax credit scheme to attract  “green” companies and to encourage “green” projects.  The Business Energy Tax Credits (BETC) are huge give-aways: Enterprises that don’t pay taxes (like nonprofits and government entities) can […]