Category: Government Finance
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Graph of the Day: Virginia State Spending Trends
Every year the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission publishes an overview of Virginia state spending. Perhaps the most important numbers are shown in the chart above — spending adjusted for 10% population growth and 23% inflation. By that measure, General Funding spending held steady over the past decade while Non-General Fund (NGF) budget grew…
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ObamaCare: Sound Idea, Bad Private Contractors
By Peter Galuszka With all the bloviating one reads about the introductory failures of ObamaCare, a big, big point is being missed. It could very well be that the concept of ObamaCare is viable if not admirable, but the government badly bungled how it hired an under-performing, private lead contractor for the system. That raises…
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No More Medicaid as Middle-Class Entitlement
by James A. Bacon When legislators debate expansion of Virginia’s Medicaid program in the 2014 session, they would do well to consider the long-term outlook for Medicaid spending. The program already consumes 17% of the state’s general fund budget, and that percentage will grow relentlessly as the population ages. “Virginia faces an onslaught of frail…
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Pope Francis Slams “Trickle Down”
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in Abortion, Feminism, Women’s Rights, Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka In a sharp rebuke to traditional conservative economic thought, the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics says he wants the church to rethink its strategies towards addressing income inequality and poverty and shun “the idolatry of money” and “trickle down” philosophies that give the rich far too much influence. Pope Francis outlined…
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Big Koch Brothers Are Watching You!
By Peter Galuszka Steve Serrao of Midlothian found something strange in his mailbox this summer. It was an official-looking letter in “report card” form from the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation claiming that he had not registered as a voter and that the group intended to inform his neighbors. According to reporting by Jim McConnell…
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GiftGate: And the Legal Bills Keeping Mounting
By Peter Galuszka The election is over. The transition teams are forming. And the GiftGate legal bills keep mounting. Taxpayers are now facing $575,000 in total charges, according to The Washington Post. These include $331,000 in fees charged in July, August and September by two law firms representing state employees in the Gov. Robert F.…
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Thank God It’s Over: Seven Election Takeaways
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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, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, LGBQT, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The awful Virginia gubernatorial contest is over. Utter disaster has been averted with the defeat of strident rightwinger Kenneth Cuccinelli. Here are seven takeaways from Election Day: 1. Winner Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, now gets to deal with a contentious General Assembly where the GOP maintains firm control on the House of…
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Fiscal and Economic Benefits of Smart Growth
This “Meet the Experts” interview, filmed by Smart Growth America, dates back to the New Partners for Smart Growth conference early this year. But the themes are enduring. I make the case for smart growth as a strategy for lower-cost growth and economic development. — JAB
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The Truth Trickles Out… Henrico Home Sales Still Booming
by James A. Bacon Well, well, well. How about that. Home prices are still booming in the Richmond region, according to the latest Richmond Association of Realtors (RAR) data. In Henrico County, where citizens will vote on a 4% meals tax in November, the median sales price increased 11% in the third quarter of 2013.…
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Sunday Morning Coming Down
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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, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Planning, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka With apologies to Kris Kristofferson, this Sunday morning presents a grab bag of interesting morning newspaper stories and positions. To wit: GiftGate Update, Getting the Stories Straight: According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Star Scientific boss Jonnie R. Williams Sr. told federal prosecutors he insisted on meeting personally with his then-buddy Gov.…
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The Madness of Virginia Republicans
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Health Care, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka Virginia’s Republicans are posed to take big hits because of the infuriating deadlock in Congress over the budget and debt ceiling. The ones looking the worst are U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, and gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Cuccinelli. Both have played too hard to Tea Party anarchists whose scheme seems…
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The Tobacco Commission, GiftGate and Sleaze
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Electoral process, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Infrastructure, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and EntitlementsBy Peter Galuszka The latest turn in the McDonnell GiftGate scandal goes back to a familiar entity, the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission which has acted as a large slush fund for favored projects in Virginia’s tobacco land for more than a decade. No surprise there. The tobacco fund is swimming with money…
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Boomergeddon Three Years Later: Still Running on Schedule
by James A. Bacon With the non-stop news coverage about the federal budget and debt-ceiling crisis, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Boomergeddon scenario I wrote about back in 2010. Since I predicted a financial collapse of the federal government within 15 to 20 years, a number of significant developments have occurred. Congress enacted…
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Testing the Limits
With 22 projects in the pipeline, Tony Kinn and his team are garnering national recognition for their work on public-private partnerships. They’re just getting started.
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So Much to Blog about, So Little Time II
More great stories that I don’t have time do justice to… Curb Appeal D.C. Streets Blog Summary: Alan Durning tackles the political challenge of how to persuade people to embrace performance (market-based) pricing for parking on streets where they are accustomed to parking for free. Plow the revenue from variable-price parking meters into a highly…