Category: Federal issues
-
Entitlements, Fiscal Limits and the Looming Age of Rage
Now that Democrats are close to parity with Republicans in the House of Delegates, there is renewed talk of Medicaid expansion in Virginia. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Trump and Republicans are pushing a tax-cut plan that would spur economic growth but, even with stronger growth, would increase deficits by $1.5 trillion over the next ten…
-
Government’s War on the Poor: College Loans
Students graduating in recent years are defaulting on student loans at a significantly higher rate than earlier age cohorts, finds Mark J. Warshawsky, a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, in a posting on the Mercatus website. “Some students, particularly from nontraditional backgrounds, seem to have been harmed by the…
-
Trump Budget Bullet Barely Grazes NoVa
President Trump’s proposed budget would cost the Washington metropolitan region up to 24,600 jobs and billions in lost salaries and procurement spending, according to a new analysis by regional economist Stephen Fuller. But Washington’s Virginia suburbs would get off easier than Maryland and the District of Columbia, reports the Washington Business Journal. The district would lose 14,000 to 15,000 jobs and…
-
Health Care as Entitlement for All
by Allen Barringer For seven years now we have lived with “Obamacare,” the Affordable Care Act, and now we are engaged in rewriting it as the American Health Care Act, and, yes, it’s “all very complicated.” One thing already is clear: both Democrats and Republicans talk about “affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans” —…
-
What the Obama Giveth, the Trump Taketh Away
The federal budget sequestration may have kept a lid on escalating federal budget deficits, a good thing, but it was a disaster for Virginia’s economy. The cap on federal spending hammered a Northern Virginia economy built largely around the Pentagon. The ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency signaled a possible return to the region’s…
-
Virginia Colleges Spend Millions on Federal Regs
The University of Virginia estimates that it spends $20 million a year complying with unfunded federal mandates, just for its academic division, reports Karin Kapsidelis with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The College of William & Mary estimates its compliance costs at $4.5 million to $6.7 million, and Virginia Commonwealth University puts the number at $13 million.…
-
No Magical Solutions for Trump
Someone in the national press corps is finally focusing on an issue less ephemeral than Donald Trump’s tweets: the fiscal disaster that looms if all of the president’s programs are enacted. Writes Rachel Blade and Josh Downey in Politico: “I don’t think you can do infrastructure, raise defense spending, do a tax cut, keep Medicare, Medicaid…
-
Steve Bannon: Richmond Boy Made Good… Er Bad
by Les Schreiber Virginia has contributed much to the political growth of the United States: George Washington as leader of the Revolutionary Army and first president; Patrick Henry as fiery supporter of the Revolution; Thomas Jefferson as author of the Declaration of Independence and third president. More recently, Doug Wilder became the first African American…
-
More Hidden Deficits: Bad Bridges and Bad Metro
Update on America’s hidden deficits: Nearly 56,000 bridges across the country are structurally unsound, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), as reported by USA Today. More than one in four of the bad bridges are at least 50 years old and have never had major reconstruction work, according to the ARTBA analysis.…
-
More P3s Coming. Taxpayers, Hang onto Your Wallets
by Randy Salzman The history of American transportation “public private partnerships” indicates that virtually all P3 shell companies go bankrupt before paying back federal loans and the “private activity bonds” which they sold to finance part of the debt. When these firms go bankrupt, who loses? Taxpayers. We get stuck (1) with paying back the…
-
Reminder: Where the Defense Dollars Are Spent
Just to remind people how heavily dependent Virginia is on defense spending… This graphic comes from the Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment. The numbers include defense spending only, not spending by homeland security or intelligence agencies. (Hat tip: Steve Haner.) Earlier this week I quoted Newt Gingrich as saying that the Pentagon bureaucracy is…
-
“It’s Not about Money. It’s about New Thinking.”
While nitwits in the national media stumble over themselves covering the president-elect’s latest tweets — Newt Gringrich calls them “rabbits” sent out to distract the news hounds — important things are taking place outside of public view. You can get a sense of the new thinking about to overwhelm Washington, D.C., in comments that the former…
-
More Information, Please, about Oceana’s New Solar Facility
by James A. Bacon The Department of the Navy is collaborating with Dominion Virginia Power and the Commonwealth of Virginia to build a 21-megawatt solar energy facility at the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. The 100-acre facility, housing 179,0000 solar panels and scheduled for completion in late 2017, will supply enough electricity at peak…
-
Virginia Economic Growth Still a Struggle
Straws in the wind regarding Northern Virginia’s business climate: Budget sequestration may be a thing of the past, but the federal budget squeeze is not. In her latest Richmond Times-Dispatch column, economist Chris Chmura notes that in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015, federal spending on contracts fell 4.4% — some $2.4 billion — in…
-
The Hidden Risk in Money Market Funds, and What It Means for Virginia
by James A. Bacon I’m sure many readers are tired of hearing my jeremiads about excess debt, fiscal unsustainability, and the necessity of re-engineering Virginia institutions to survive the inevitable reckoning. Well, too bad. The global economy is severely out of balance, Virginia is part of that economy, and we will suffer the consequences when the…