Author: James A. Bacon
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It’s the Tax Rate, Stupid
A fascinating new study by the Tax Foundation and KPMG digs deeper than the usual analysis that ranks states by business tax burden. This report, “Local Matters: A Comparative Analysis on State Tax Costs on Business,” recognizes that tax rates vary depending upon the type of business. Thus, while Virginia ranks 11th best among all…
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Second Thoughts on Charlottesville Bypass
U.S. 29 north of Charlottesville The battle over the Charlottesville Bypass still isn’t over. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) must review its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), last supplemented in May 2003, to see if it needs to be updated. Now the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has submitted a letter listing 11 topics that…
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IG of the Day: Virginia Poverty
Over the past 30 years, Virginia has consistently logged a lower incidence of poverty than the United States as a whole, as seen in this graphic published by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. But broad measures of poverty don’t tell the whole story. In “Poverty and the Social Safety Net: Who Are Virginia’s…
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Enjoy 2.4% Economic Growth While You Can. It Won’t Last.
by James A. Bacon Cackling with joy now that the Gross Domestic Product is projected to grow 2.4% this year, lovers of the leviathan state see the faster pace of recovery as a vindication of the Obama administration’s activist economic policies. In truth, the current burst of growth reflects the most stimulative fiscal policy since…
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General, Politician and Entrepreneur
by James A. Bacon President’s Day is more than a week past, not that anyone paid much attention to it anyway (except for Peter G., who penned this piece comparing the myth-making surrounding the founding fathers to the propaganda of Josef Stalin). It’s the day we commemorate the contributions of America’s two greatest presidents, George Washington…
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This Guy Just Won’t Shut Up!
Jim Bacon talks budget, transportation and public policy wonkery on WRIR radio with Will Snyder. Click here to start the podcast. Scroll ahead to 40:00 to get to the good stuff. Bacon talks even more transportation with Norm Leahy at The Score Radio Network. Click here for the podcast.
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Brace Yourself for the Next Transportation Revolution
Bill Ford with the new B-MAX, which supports cellular phones and portable media devices for hands-free operation. by James A. Bacon In articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, Bill Ford Jr., executive chairman of Fort Motor Company, has unveiled his new vision for how automobile technology can improve traffic safety and…
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Paging Ken Elzinga. Mr. Elzinga, Please.
by James A. Bacon Kenneth Elzinga is an institution at the University of Virginia, less renowned, perhaps, than that poobah of political punditry Larry Sabato, but no less beloved. Some 40 years ago I learned much of what I know about economics from Elzinga’s Economics 101 and 102 classes (macro economic and micro economics). He…
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Government Benefits in a Post-Boomergeddon World
How bad will it hurt when Boomergeddon hits and the federal government goes into default/hyperinflation mode? One way to measure the economic impact is dependence upon federal government transfer payments. The New York Times has tallied up expenditures on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans payments, unemployment insurance and income support, and plotted them as a percentage…
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Another Reason to Loathe Special Tax Breaks
An exemption on a 2% sales tax on a $40 million plane creates a real competitive advantage. by James A. Bacon On May 27, 2010, Governor Bob McDonnell announced that Yorktown-based Orion Air Group, “one of the world’s leading operators of business aircraft,” would invest $4 million to consolidate its operations in Newport News. The…
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Careful There, Fellows, You May Not Like Where Your Logic Leads You
by James A. Bacon Gov. Bob McDonnell’s PR shop has taken to touting the immediate job-and business-creating benefits of Virginia’s accelerated road building and maintenance program. The governor had better be wary about that short-term focus– he might not like where the logic leads. One recent press release touted an analysis of 10 highway projects…
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Bob McDonnell: Natural Libertarian
by James A. Bacon It is with great trepidation that I venture into the shark-infested waters of Virginia’s culture wars, which I regard as a distraction from the pressing fiscal, economic and environmental issues facing the state. I belong in the muddled middle of the electorate that sees elements of truth in both sides of…
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Panama Canal a Long-Term, not Short-Term, Game Changer
by James A. Bacon The Virginian-Pilot has published a piece on the “cargo bonanza” potentially awaiting the port of Virginia when the Panama Canal opens its bigger locks, enabling monster container ships to cut their travel times between Asia and the East Coast of the United States. Much of the article recounts background information that…
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Questions about VDOT’s On-Budget/On-Time Performance
The Virginia Department of Transportation is doing its best job of delivering projects on budget and on time since FY 2010. According to VDOT’s most recent quarterly report, the department had 340 maintenance and construction projects due for completion during the October-December quarter. Of those, 77.1% were completed both on time and on budget —…
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Creating a Real Medical Marketplace in Virginia
Graphic credit: American Enterprise Institute by James A. Bacon Excellent story in the Times-Dispatch today. Too bad it’s buried on the business page. It should have been squeezed onto the front page, or at least in the A section, to share space with the wall-to-wall coverage of abortion, gun bills and the rest of the Culture War effluvia that…