Watch out Oregon, the snake oil salesmen are rolling into town, with old medicine in a new bottle: “The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis,” by David Osborne and Peter Hutchinson.

Oregon’s economy may be on a modest growth path, but the effects of the economic downturn that began in 2001 are lasting for a decade. State General Fund revenues and the vital public investments and services that the General Fund supports will not recover from the recession until after the 2009-2011 budget cycle.

Oregon’s economy may be on a modest growth path, but the effects of the economic downturn that began in 2001 are lasting for a decade, according to an analysis released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP).

Our new legislature will have its hands full struggling with Oregon’s budget and tax policies. Meanwhile, opponents of quality public services will be in full attack mode, using deceptive and misleading rhetoric to make their case.

When it comes to state and local government spending, should Oregon spend like Vermont or like Utah?

On the heels of new data from the US Census Bureau showing a rise in poverty among children in the US, today the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. released a new study showing that annual investments in a comprehensive, high quality early childhood development (ECD) program for all poor three- and four-year-olds in the country would more than pay for themselves between now and 2050.

President Bush, speaking in August at a campaign forum in Niceville, Florida, said, “I’m not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it’s the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”