Think tax certainty doesn’t matter to capital investors? Think again. Two of Oregon’s largest corporations – Nike and Intel – just signed major expansion deals that will add at least 1,000 jobs to the state’s economy in the next few years.

Direct investment by more than 100 foreign companies in his state has caught the attention of Maine Governor Paul LePage. They employ more than 30,000 workers, and many of these companies are expanding.

Asked to describe the house in Tupelo where Elvis was born, one local woman puts it this way: “You could spit in the front door, and hit the dog goin’ out the back.”