Category: Business and Economy
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There’s Gold in Them Thar… Press Releases?
by Jock Yellott It seems there is a vein of quartz underground in Buckingham County sparkling with gold. The General Assembly almost prohibited mining it, but then backed off. This time. A string of historic gold mines going back to the 19th Century appear as red dots on the county geological survey map like chigger…
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310 Virginia Companies in the Inc 5000 This Year
And now for a bit of good news. Virginia’s entrepreneurial economy is faring very well, thank you. This year 310 Virginia companies are ranked in the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies. Five were ranked in the Top 100. How does that compare nationally? In very rough numbers, Virginia accounts for one…
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Covid Benefits – Yet Another Massive Government Program Gone Awry
Stolen without a gun. NBC News is reporting that hackers and scammers have pulled off “an epic theft” of COVID benefits. Foreign and domestic criminals have looted tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. As reported, “The federal government cannot say for sure how much of the more than $900 billion in pandemic-related unemployment…
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Virginia Beach and Afghanistan
by James C. Sherlock It was never a Navy war. But in this Navy town, it was brought literally home to us again and again. We are home to nearly half of the Navy SEALs, including SEAL Team 6. Something like 4,000 to 5,000 total plus their families. SEALs are America’s special operations forces specially…
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Herring Sues Minority Gas Station Owners for Price-Gouging
by James A. Bacon Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against the owners of a Springfield gas station for charging “unconscionable” prices for gasoline after the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline in May. “Bad actors will take advantage of times of crises to unreasonably increase prices for necessary goods, like gasoline,” said…
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Can Virginia Tap into California’s Liquid Gold Rush?
by Bill Tracy Jed Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies struck it rich when his wayward shotgun blast accidently discovered Black Gold. Regrettably, due to his fossil fuel habit, we must now cancel old Jed for his crimes against humanity and his wanton destruction of the planet. Today there is a newfangled, politically acceptable liquid gold…
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Got $26,000 To Replace All Your Gas Appliances?
by Steve Haner Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon the War on Fossil Fuels will be fought in the equipment room or garage of your house. A push to prohibit new natural gas connections and remove existing home gas services is inevitable if Virginia’s current leaders are serious about zero carbon within 20 to…
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Delta – 8 THC and the Government’s Marijuana Plans Go “Up in Smoke”
Is cannabis legal in Virginia? Most followers of this blog are aware of the recent legislative efforts in Virginia to decriminalize and then legalize the possession of intoxicating marijuana by adults. Most followers of this blog believe that Virginia is presently in a twilight world where recreational possession of intoxicating marijuana is legal while the…
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Local Unions Are Recognized Before Workers Vote?
by F. Vincent Vernuccio Local government leaders are negotiating with union executives who have not been officially recognized by public employees they claim to represent. Counties in northern Virginia are taking steps to allow public sector collective bargaining. But they are doing it with the support of union executives – not a groundswell of voter…
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Slow Service: The New Normal
by Kerry Dougherty We waited at least 20 minutes after we were seated to place our drink orders. Another 15 to get our cocktails. Another 30 for appetizers (cups of soup) and another 30 for our entrees. It was so late when we finished, we skipped dessert. Welcome to the “new normal” in dining out:…
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Agriculture in Great Falls?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Well, it seems as if rich folks in leftist-leaning Albemarle are not the only rich folks availing themselves of real estate tax breaks. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that Glenn Youngkin and his wife have saved 95% of their real estate taxes on their horse “farm” in Great Falls, the posh area…
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Virginia Next-to-Last in Motley Fool Ranking
by Steve Haner If you need another reason to break into peals of laughter over the recent CNBC “Top States for Business” ranking, consider this. In the story about the infrastructure rankings, while praising the state of Nevada, the illustration provided was the aerial shot of the Tonopah Solar Energy facility. The failed, now-in-bankruptcy (also…
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Freedom From Union Dues Hangs on Warner
By Vincent Vernuccio First published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. A bill under active consideration in Congress would allow unions to get Virginia workers fired for not paying union fees. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, among many other things would end right-to-work laws in Virginia and in 26 other states.…
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What Goes Up Stays Up
By Dick Hall-Sizemore One of the explanations for the increase in the cost of new housing recently has been the surge in the costs of raw materials. Builders have been forced to pass those increased costs on to buyers. Indeed, prices of materials, such as lumber, did increase significantly this last year, reaching a high…
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Top State for Business… Or Most Woke State for Business?
by James A. Bacon As corporate America becomes more woke, placing ever greater emphasis on the diversity of its workforce and executive management ranks, it should come as no surprise that CNBC, which is part of the NBCUniversal corporate media complex, has incorporated wokeness into its annual ranking of Top States for Business. “We have…