During this five years and seven months period of time from March 6, 2009 through October 3, 2014, both Oregon US Senators were Democratic, including Jeff Merkley.
I found 20 Companies Headquartered in Oregon in Google or Yahoo's superb Finance websites with current Total Stock Market Capitalizations of at least $100 mil and which also had their common stocks trading on each of the following three dates:
- On December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second term.....before the 2008 financial meltdown
- On March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the lowest point for the US stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the 2008 financial meltdown, and
- also on the most recent date October 3, 2014
These 20 Oregon Companies had their equally-company-weighted average stock market prices decline by a massive 62% from December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second Presidential term, to March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the very lowest point for the overall stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown.
But in the five years and seven months since March 6, 2009 through October 3, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 20 Oregon Companies have increased by a phenomenal 687%.
Thus in the six years and nine months from December 31, 2007 before the 2008 financial meltdown to the most recent date October 3, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 20 Oregon Companies have increased by a spectacular 95%...... yeah, these Oregon Companies have not just recouped what they lost with the 2008 financial meltdown, but also added another 95%.
Below here are the stock market prices of each of these 20 Oregon Companies on October 3, 2014, on March 6, 2009, and on December 31, 2007, along with the related Stock Market Price Percentage Changes:
| Market | Market | Market | |||||
| Price | Price | Price | |||||
| % | % | % | |||||
| Change | Change | Change | |||||
| Market | Market | Market | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 12-31-07 | ||
| Price | Price | Price | to | to | to | ||
| HQs | 10-3-14 | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 10-3-14 | 3-6-09 | 10-3-14 | |
| $s | $s | $s | |||||
| Oregon Company | |||||||
| Lithia Motors | Medford | 84.10 | 1.98 | 13.73 | 4147% | -86% | 513% |
| The Greenbrier Companies | Lake Oswego | 65.00 | 1.93 | 22.26 | 3268% | -91% | 192% |
| Craft Brew Alliance | Portland | 15.06 | 0.95 | 6.65 | 1485% | -86% | 126% |
| TriQuint Semiconductor | Hillsboro | 18.62 | 2.05 | 6.63 | 808% | -69% | 181% |
| Rentrak Corp | Portland | 65.49 | 9.49 | 14.46 | 590% | -34% | 353% |
| FEI Company | Hillsboro | 75.51 | 11.82 | 24.83 | 539% | -52% | 204% |
| Lattice Semiconductor | Hillsboro | 6.89 | 1.13 | 3.25 | 510% | -65% | 112% |
| Mentor Graphics | Wilsonville | 20.06 | 3.44 | 10.78 | 483% | -68% | 86% |
| Precision Castparts | Portland | 231.62 | 49.05 | 138.70 | 372% | -65% | 67% |
| Nike | Beaverton | 90.29 | 19.97 | 32.12 | 352% | -38% | 181% |
| StanCorp Financial Group | Portland | 63.39 | 14.73 | 50.38 | 330% | -71% | 26% |
| Cascade Microtech | Beaverton | 9.80 | 2.75 | 10.19 | 256% | -73% | -4% |
| Blount Intl | Portland | 14.80 | 4.72 | 12.31 | 214% | -62% | 20% |
| Columbia Sportswear | Portland | 36.88 | 12.87 | 22.05 | 187% | -42% | 67% |
| Umpqua Holdings | Portland | 16.35 | 6.91 | 15.34 | 137% | -55% | 7% |
| FLIR Systems | Wilsonville | 30.66 | 19.59 | 31.30 | 56% | -37% | -2% |
| Electro Scientific Industries | Portland | 6.76 | 5.11 | 19.85 | 32% | -74% | -66% |
| Pacific Continental | Eugene | 13.26 | 10.44 | 12.52 | 27% | -17% | 6% |
| Schnitzer Steel Industries | Portland | 23.40 | 25.57 | 69.13 | -8% | -63% | -66% |
| Cascade Bancorp | Bend | 5.18 | 8.40 | 139.20 | -38% | -94% | -96% |
| Average % Change all 20 Oregon Companies | 687% | -62% | 95% | ||||
In addition to the above 20 Companies, Portland-based Ericson Air-Crane filed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on April 11, 2012. It has seen its stock market price increase from its Initial Offering Price of $8.00 to $13.20 on October 3, 2014, an increase of 65% over this very short period of time.
On the employment front, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oregon's State unemployment rate more than doubled, going from 5.2% in December 2007 to 11.0% in October 2009, which was the very lowest point for the US Labor Market due to the lagging spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown. But in the four years and ten months since then, when Jeff Merkley was an Oregon US Senator, the Oregon State unemployment rate has declined from 11.0% in October 2009 to 7.2% in the most recently reported August 2014.
