Category: Demographics
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Revisiting Taxation and Migration
by Timothy Wise Your humble scribe, ElGrowlerGrande, first became interested in the issue of taxation and interstate migration after reading a paper by Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder. We discussed this in an article in the July 28, 2003 edition of The ACTA Watchdog, focusing on the question of how decisions of the Arlington County Board affect…
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Rethinking David Brat
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka Knocking David Brat as I did a couple of days ago got the predictably nasty response from Rebellion-land. So, I went back and looked into it a little more, without an eye towards his Tea Party links. What did I find a mixed bag for the economics professor who’s challenging Republican House…
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Cantor’s Brat Problem
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in Business and Economy, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka The jockeying for power among Virginia conservatives is certainly curious if not frightening. It seems the diminished Tea Party is trying to make a comeback and relive its heyday of 2010 at the expense of moderates. I personally hope they don’t because the movement brings up far too much hateful baggage of…
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Richmond’s Incredible Blindness
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Housing, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Following up on Richmond Opening Its Kimono post from Monday, I note some significant news developments and points: First, the Richmond City Council has restored $10.6 million of the $13.6 million Mayor Dwight Jones wanted to keep his plan to build a new baseball stadium, slavery museum and mixed use development worth…
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The Kimonos Are Opening in Richmond
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Housing, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka There’s an old expression called “opening your kimono” that dates back to the 1990s but seems to have roots in Japan. It means having no secrets. When a Japanese husband and wife greet each other, they draw open their clothes to show they are being open – full disclosure in other words.…
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Rise of the Post-College Town
Every community covets the Millennials, especially those with education, skills and tech savvy who do so much to stimulate entrepreneurial economic growth. USA Today has surveyed the coutry to see which “cities” (urban core jurisdictions, not metro regions) do the best job of luring Millennials. And it turns out that Virginia cities do pretty well. Arlington…
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Fracking’s Strange Winners and Losers
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and oil is creating a new and confusing class of corporate winners and losers in Virginia and elsewhere. Analysts believe that environmental opposition to expanded pipelines such as Keystone helps railroads by putting more tank cars on rail lines. That could further tax a stressed-out rail system…
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Map of the Day: States Where People Want to Move
Another data point indicating that Virginia is in bigger trouble than the political class is willing to acknowledge… In a recent poll the Gallup organization found that one third (33%) of all Americans say that, if given a chance to move to a different state, they would. Overall, residents are most dissatisfied with the blue…
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Herring Rises as McAuliffe Falls
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Electoral process, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Media, Money in politics, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s ruling that undocumented Virginians who entered the state as children can qualify for in-state college tuition is another bold and praiseworthy effort to drag the Old Dominion into the new age. His comments on gay marriage this winter foreshadowed a U.S. district judge’s decision in Norfolk that…
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A Frenchman Turns Economics Upside Down
By Peter Galuszka Call it “The Anti-Baconomics.” Thomas Piketty, a French economist, is turning conventional, conservative economic thinking on its head. Goodbye to the idea that all boats rise in capitalism. What we are seeing instead is a dangerous concentration of 21st century wealth in the hands of an ever-smaller elite. This is Piketty’s message…
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The Perils of Gas Fracking
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka More media accounts are showing up now that 84,000 acres of lands south and east of Fredericksburg have been leased for possible hydraulic fracturing drilling for natural gas. This Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch published a map showing the leased area covering big swaths of land from the Fort A.P. Hill military area east across the…
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April Is The Cruelest Month
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Water-waste waterBy Peter Galuszka April is the cruelest month, especially for brutal energy disasters. This Sunday is the fourth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling blowout that killed 11 and caused one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. April 5 was the fourth anniversary of the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion in West Virginia…
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The New West: Leaving Richmond Behind
By Peter Galuszka This story may seem a contrarian piece when it comes to smart growth and exurban sprawl but so be it. Back in 1969, road planners in Richmond came up with an idea for a superhighway, Route 288, that would span the iconic James River and connect the far western suburban areas of…
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The Long, Sad, Inevitable Demise of Small Town America
by James A. Bacon In theory the past decade should have been very good for America’s small towns and rural areas: The fracking revolution has created an energy boom in places as far flung as western Pennsylvania and North Dakota. High prices for agricultural commodities have propped up incomes across the grain belt. Yet, despite…
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Map of the Day: Impact of Conservation Easements
Luke Juday is using his mapping tools over at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Policy to project what Virginia’s population distribution could look like 25 years from now and 50 years from now. You can see those maps here. We’ve re-published many of his maps here at Bacon’s Rebellion, so you may find them…