Author: James A. Bacon
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Another Cry for Virginia Tax Reform
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s revenue problems run much deeper than the Great Recession, argues the Commonwealth Institute in a new report, “Frozen in Time: Virginia’s Revenue System Can’t Pull Its Weight.” Chronic revenue shortfalls are the fault of the Old Dominion’s antiquated tax structure. Virginia has grappled with budget shortfalls in 10 of the…
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Dulles Rail and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises
by James A. Bacon The Dulles Rail project plods inexorably forward. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has issued a Request for Qualifications Information (RFQI) to solicit qualifications statements from potential bidders on the 11.5-mile rail line. Companies who submit applications will be narrowed down to a short list of five firms. The contract will be…
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Record Heat Wave? Not in Virginia.
The U.S. State Climate Extremes Committee established by the National Climatic Data Center has updated and refined its national database of climate extremes. Now anyone can conduct a Web search to find the dates of extreme climate records in their home state. The chart above shows the numbers for Virginia. Notice how the hot-weather extremes…
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Clogging Corridors
Is the McDonnell administration serious about protecting state highways from encroaching development? A dispute over a rural stoplight on U.S. 29 may tell the story.
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Are Virginia Schools Too Easy on Students?
The popular media portrays the nation’s teenagers as buckled under by homework. Are middle and high school students being asked to work too hard? One way to find out is to ask the students themselves. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) does that every two years, and the Center for American Progress (note to…
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A Charlottesville Bypass Alternative: the New 29
Foes of the Charlottesville Bypass have produced a video detailing six spot improvements that would not only speed travel for drivers passing through town but for the thousands of drivers who use the road for local trips. “The bypass only offers minimal time savings to drivers passing through the area, and it offers even fewer…
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Infographic of the Day: Working Class Communities
In the mid-20th century, the “working class” — workers engaged in manufacturing, construction, transportation and maintenance — comprised half the nation’s workforce. Today, the number is down to one fifth. Of the country’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Elkhard-Goshen, Indiana, has the highest percentage working-class population, 46.0%. The highest in Virginia is Harrisonburg, ranked 17th in the…
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Food Deserts, a Problem of Supply or Demand?
by James A. Bacon Why do people get obese? One widely circulated explanation is that many Virginians, poor people especially, live in “food deserts” — places where they do not have access to grocery stores that provide fresh, healthy food. Deprived of choice, these unfortunates get their food wherever they can, such as fast food…
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More Pavement or Smarter Traffic Lights. You choose.
Virginia has experimented with traffic light synchronization for many years with some success. Sequencing has had a dramatic impact upon congestion, for instance, in the heavily traveled U.S. 29 corridor north of Charlottesville. But the state is far from tapping the full potential of the technology. Traffic light sequencing is not deployed in all the…
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Virginia’s Cost of Living Problem
by James A. Bacon In 2011 the Washington region was the second most prosperous Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country when ranked by the average annual wage. But adjust wages for the cost of living, and the region fell to 18th place among the nation’s largest 51 largest MSAs, according to an exercise conducted by…
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Live Longer, Ride a Bike.
Riding bicycles is safer than most people think, and a whole lot healthier, argues bicycle commuter and activist Tom Bowden. With modest investment, biking could become even safer.
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Think Big: Let’s Make Virginia the Healthiest State in the Country
by James A. Bacon Virginia is a great state in which to live but it could be greater. We Virginians need to set bold goals for ourselves. One such goal, I would humbly submit, would be to make Virginia the healthiest state in the United States. That would be not only audacious, but it would…
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Recovery? What Recovery?
If it feels like we’re still in a recession, this chart, published on the blog of Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw, explains why. Cutting through the terminological differences of “unemployed,” “underemployed,” “discouraged workers” and the rest, the graph expresses the number of employed people in the economy as a percentage of of the total workforce.…
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Making High-Brow Art Accessible to the Masses
by James A. Bacon When you think of symphony, modern dance and other high art forms, Nelson County, Va., is not the first locale that normally leaps to mind. Bluegrass, maybe. Not Beethoven. But Nelson County is home to the Wintergreen Resort, and Wintergreen Performing Arts puts on one of the most marvelous music festivals…
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Can Technology Save Us from Dysfunctional Educational Institutions?
by James A. Bacon Tech journalist Michael S. Malone makes the case in today’s Wall Street Journal that technologies nearing commercialization will revitalize the American economy. Just as fracking technology transformed the energy sector, nanotechnology, big data, three-dimensional printing and online education will create a new wave of abundance, he argues in “The Sources of…