The best of business news video this week goes to CNN for visiting a tech trade show and showing of the latest gadgets. Here we have a way to charge your phone on your bike and using drones at home.

 Jeff Lundy, Ph.D., U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Business Civic Leadership Center. The Millennial generation is the future of the American public.  While the opinions of older generations might be set, this younger generation brings new perspectives on society that can change the perception of American business. 

 County Population Forecast By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog. Just a quick update on inflation in Oregon and a interesting new way to illustrate the changes in the different components. (HT to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for the graph idea) First a few primers on local inflation measures: No s

By Oregon Small Business Association Powell’s Books Powell’s Books recently announced the appointment of Miriam Sontz as CEO. Sontz takes over this position as Emily Powell remains the owner. Sontz is a 28-year employee, most recently serving as chief operating officer. As CEO, she will direct ongoing business o

By  J.L. Wilson Associated Oregon Industries Finally. After months of negotiations and gamesmanship in the House, the Oregon Senate took the bull by the horns and stood strong with business on one of the most critical bills for Oregon business this session. SB 678 makes it clear that members and owners of LLCs are protecte

University of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes By Tim Duy Oregon Economic Forum University of  Oregon While economic indicators softened in March, they still point toward continued growth in the Oregon economy. Highlights of the report include: • Following two months of strong gains, the Oregon Measure of Economic Activi

Video: Coke starts worldwide ban on ads targeting kids In a bold move to get out ahead, Coke has made a ve3ry public push to eliminate all of their ads that would involve target audiences of children under 12 years old. See the analysis behind this move in the Wall Street Journal News Video below.

By Alex Nowrasteh CATO Institute A common conservative refrain is that immigrants, once they enter the U.S., “immediately begin to depend on government welfare,” as Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama recently put it. That’s simply not true, according to a Cato Institute study by Professor Leighton Ku and lecturer Brian Bru

By Oregon Tax News, What You Need to Know About the Internet Sales Tax This week the Senate passed the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act by a vote of 69 to 27.  Here are some important things to know about the bill. 1. Allows states to capture $11 billion in taxable income. it allows the 45 [...]

From Stoel Rives LLP Oregon law Firm Ahead of Schedule Blog No Contractor’s License Means You Work for Free Yet another California court decision has been issued requiring a contractor to return over $750,000 received for work he performed on a casino while he was unlicensed. In rejecting the contractor’s arguments

The Disability Monster: A More Sober Analysis Patrick Emerson PhD , OSU Economist Oregon Economics Blog Molly Young has an excellent article in The Oregonian explaining the downfall of SoloPower and the various incentives bestowed upon them by the feds, the state and the City of Portland and related agencies.  It wasnR

Columbia Sportswear Announces First-quarter Record By Oregon Small Business Association Columbia Sportswear Co. reported a 5 percent increase in net sales for a first-quarter record $348.3 million, compared with first quarter 2012 net sales of $333.1 million. In a press release, Tim Boyle, Columbia’s president and CEO

The Mobile Silicon Forest: In Focus With Congressman Greg Walden & Jonathan Spalter Friday, May 10th, 11:00am – 1:00pm Embassy Suites, Downtown Portland, 329 SW Pine St. Hosted Luncheon* Consumers are gravitating to mobile technology, and Oregon is a national leader in the new exploding application economy, recent

Video: Google Glass, Facebook 22% mobile boom Two video news item of the week. Video #1 is CNN doing a demonstration of Google Glass showing how it can be used to take pictures and get up to date news in your own glasses. Video #2 is a Wall Street Video of the 22% rise in [...]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Sens. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ), the two lead negotiators in the Senate’s Gang of Eight immigration reform group, said that they believe their immigration reform bill will not just have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate—but majority support from both parties and the

By Oregon State Treasurer Oregon-led infrastructure effort gaining traction in Washington D.C., garners White House attention – State Treasurer leads Oregon delegation that is promoting new approach for projects A year ago, a west coast effort to look regionally at infrastructure development was only a concept on a wh

By Jan Meekcoms Oregon NFIB (Originally published in Salem Business Journal) Oregon recently came under the scrutiny of two institutions making their annual examination of all 50 states’ economies. In March, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation released its yearly Facts & Figures, How Does Your State Compare? Fortunately fo

 County Population Forecast By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog. A quick follow-up on previous post on improving employment in regions of the state outside of Portland. Using the latest QCEW again, the first graph illustrates over-the-year job gains for the state overall, the Portland MSA (5 county regio

By Bill Watkins, Oregon Economics California Lutheran University A “Comeback” in Name Only The New York Times loves California. Well, parts of it, anyway. Adam Nagourney, writing a few weeks after voters approved a temporary income- and sales-tax hike, reported that the state’s economic gloom was “starting to lift,�

CNN did this graph from data of the Recording Industry Association of America showing how the advent of digital music has taken a giant hit to sales in the music industry. See sales chart below.

.Pew Research by Richard Fry and Paul Taylor Overview During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a [...]

Boquist bill would buck Wall Street, aid community banks, businesses Senator Brain Boquist Press Release A Senate committee considered a bill introduced by Senator Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) on Thursday that would empower the Oregon Growth Board to help community banks offer more business loans to Oregon Main Streets. “In m

Senate Passes Bipartisan Social Media Privacy Bill SB 344A prohibits higher education institutions from demanding access to social media accounts By Senate Majority Office, The Oregon Senate today passed a bipartisan bill designed to protect the privacy rights of college students. SB 344 A focuses on privacy protection for

NIKE has pulled their Boston massacre T-shirts USA Today reports that NIKE has pulled their “Boston Massacre” T-Shirts from their factory outlet stores in light of the unexpected Boston bombings that occurred last week. The term is used to represent a New York Boston rivalry (as you can see the NY Yankee logo on

By Oregon Prosperity Project New $275 Million Tax Increase Unveiled this Week –HB 2456 adds new taxes on top of Measure 66 & 67 taxes A new, serious tax increase proposal was introduced. The Oregon House of Representatives will vote on it soon. The bill is HB 2456. The proposed tax hikes are on the [...]

University of Oregon Regional Economic Indexes By Tim Duy Oregon Economic Forum University of  Oregon We thank KeyBank for their generous support of this project. • Regional divergence widened further in February, with Portland pulling ahead of the rest of the regional economies. Highlights of the release include: • Th

PC sales have made a sudden steer downwards with a 14% drop. At the same time, Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 8, sales have been under projection. In some cases Windows 8 is being blamed for the PC end as PRO-PC states, “Microsoft’s Windows 8 actually deterred potential PC buyers, IDC said, as u

Michael Hendrix Director, Research & Emerging Issues Forum for Innovation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Have we just popped a Bitcoin bubble? If you haven’t heard of Bitcoins before, they’re a digital currency with no central monetary authority, instead sourcing, verifying, and trading coinage through peer-to-peer netwo

 County Population Forecast By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog. One important item our office produces that flies somewhat under the radar unless you are in local government or land use issues on a regular basis is the county level population forecast. Kanhaiya, the state demographer, recently finalized

By Oregon Prosperity Project Senate Bill 488 is the Costliest Legislation of All Our First Pillar of Prosperity is to create jobs and grow incomes for Oregonians. Now that nearly all of the legislation has been introduced for the 2013 Legislative Session, we can say that SB 488 poses the biggest threat to Oregon’s eco