Say What? More Tax Silliness
Can we have a honest debate about the tax increases? In last Sunday's Oregonian, Harry Esteve quotes the general manager of Gresham Ford claiming that the company's tax bill will go from $10 to $30,000 if the tax increases are approved. Huh? This makes no sense at all. If this is true it can't have anything really to do with the new taxes for if the company was paying the corporate minimum it should only go up to $150 - the new corporate minimum under the proposed new taxes. She also claims that this will require that the company lay off an employee. Huh again? If this is 'one

Is the US the Home of Big Government?
Well by this metric, from the OECD, our overall tax burden is low by high income country standards. So, no, we have a relatively small government.And yes, I just can't

Portland Home Values: Case-Shiller September Numbers
Okay, so I try to take a week off and something always happens, in this case the Case-Shiller September numbers. So here are two snapshots. The first is the raw data showing an ever so slight increase in the 20 city composite and in Seattle, but a every so slight drop in Portland (12% unemployment anyone?).

Thanksgiving Break
I will be taking the week off from blogging. Have a happy Thanksgiving and see you next week. If I see anything particularly interesting I will Tweet a link. Don't yet follow my Twitter feed? Click on the box in the right hand column and start today!

Thursday Tidbits
Busy, busy, busy. Here are a couple of nuggets to keep the mind engaged:Economics: There have been discussions on this blog about whether GDP is a good metric of economic health, now Hugo Chavez wonders as well. Now that his country is experiencing negative GDP growth that is, Chavez: “We simply can’t permit that they continue calculating GDP with the old capitalist method.” Beeronomics: The old discussion of whether price is a signal of quality in beer has rise