Oregon is now ranked 3rd in the nation as the worst hit state in the recession

What shot Oregon to almost the head of the class is the fast rising foreclosure rate. The number of homes that went into foreclosure in the last 3 months, in Oregon, jumped a whooping 20% over the prior period. Analysts are putting the blame on the fact that Oregon was one of the last to feel the recession, I say BS! It is more of a case of a high unemployment rate that got its start way before we officially got it declared a recession.

Oregon's unemployment rate is currently just over 12% and I know of 3 people that have been unemployed for nearly 2 years in Oregon. The stress that they undergo just to look for work almost acts like natural weight loss supplements, since they don't feel like eating when they worry. Fortunately for 2 of them, their homes are paid for and they have no mortgage but the other one is sick with being stressed out.

HP used to be one of the largest employers in Oregon with their campus that is located in Corvallis. At one time they use to employ over 9,000 workers in Oregon, if not more. Their Corvallis location, just 5 years ago had 5,000 to 6,000 people working there. Now they barely have 1,000 or less at the location. It was the printer ink cartridge division of HP. Was the dwindling worker numbers due to a recession? Heck no, they started shipping out jobs overseas. First it was to locate the manufacturing to Singapore then the  R&D moved to Ireland. I personally would like to see outsourcing of jobs to overseas put to an end, but how? I have an idea.

Everything that is imported into the USA has to go through customs. So why not put a HUGE import tax on items that are made overseas by USA based companies? That would not only hurt their bottom line but would encourage them to bring back those jobs. The federal government would also benefit with a huge tax income increase from imports. Come to think of it, why stop at USA based companies and just put a flat import surcharge on everything coming in, other countries do that to USA made items, so let's play the game they are playing.