The Union Bosses don’t feel totally confident that they can do away with the secret ballot in their effort to grow the union membership although the White House and congressional leaders are trying to do just that. But other things are going on quietly that will help the unions and hurt our businesses here in Virginia.
Given today’s economy, perhaps it’s time that we look into reinventing this country’s economic development model to create a more sustainable future using tools like the model provided by DARPA.
With private markets staying timid, the public sector needs to take charge in pulling us out of this recession. However, for success to be achieved, the government’s incentive structure must be realigned to more closely mimic the private sector.
We can focus on economic development all we want, but if our policies don’t grow the size of the economic pie it will all come for naught. We need to make sure stimulus money doesn’t distort markets and instead promotes the growth of our economy.
While the 2010 Fiscal Year may have resulted in a record deficit, it’s the startling increase in the growth and scale of government that should really get your attention.
America’s small businesses are hurting. Here’s how we can help them get back on their feet.
It may seem like a distant problem for a Right to Work state like Virginia, but if the Employee Free Choice Act, or the “card check bill,” is passed it will just be the first of many small efforts to slowly whittle away at employee freedom.
Globalization is no passing fad, meaning well-integrated, “World Cities” will be economic engines in the future. For Virginia that means rethinking how our regions interact and work together, how we educate our citizens and how we project ourselves to the rest of the world.
It’s too early to write off Southside Virginia’s mill town economy. But the Tobacco Commission does need to re-think its strategic priorities.
Ten years and $400 million has failed to transform the economies of Southside and Southwest Virginia. Until leaders confront dispersed human settlement patterns, they will never address root causes.
