Category: Government Finance
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Here Comes Cooch-ageddon!
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in Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, 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, Taxes, Transportation, Water-waste waterHard right conservative Kenneth T. Cuccinelli has a very good chance of becoming the next governor. At least that’s my view 11 months out. I disagree with Cuccinelli on almost everything and will spare my readers the list. But I do agree on one thing: he has proved to be a wily politician. He’s turned…
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Aargh! Argh! and Argh!
It’s long been a dream of mine that national conservative publications would one day take notice of Bacon’s Rebellion and my brilliant application of fiscal-conservative and free-market thinking to state and local issues. At long last, I have been noticed. The irony is that Jim Geraghty, author of National Review‘s Morning Jolt, has pegged me…
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McDonnell Throws Virginia Transportation Policy into Reverse
by James A. Bacon Governor Bob McDonnell has submitted his proposal for overhauling the state’s antiquated transportation funding sources. Unfortunately, he has moved in precisely the wrong direction — rather than tightening the nexus between how much Virginians drive and how much they pay into the system, he would totally sever it. According to a…
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Medicaid Madness
State bean counters have revised their estimates for what it would cost to expand the state Medicaid program under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The good news is that Virginia actually would save money, thanks to federal reimbursements and other provisions in Obamacare, through 2019. And when it does start costing the state,…
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The Conundrum of Exporting Natural Gas
By Peter Galuszka Energy firms and utilities are finding themselves in an odd and unexpected position because of the fast-changing dynamics of the natural gas market. In a blow to the Sierra Club, a Maryland judge has ruled that Richmond-based Dominion Resources can export liquefied natural gas from its Cove Point facility on the western…
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The Fiscal Cliff Is Dead! Long Live the Fiscal Canyon!
by James A. Bacon Rejoice! The fiscal cliff has been averted. Fret! There is more political turmoil to come as Washington mud wrestles with sequestration spending cuts and the cap on federal borrowing in the next two months. Despair! Washington’s inability to enact serious budget reform means that Boomergeddon, once only a strong probability, is…
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The Catch 22 of Growth
by Randy Salzman With municipalities across America questioning the value of business tax incentives, one Virginia community is completing its sixth study illustrating the true costs and benefits of the prevailing political mantra, “Growth is good.” Backed by Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP), this latest work, “Counting the Costs and Benefits of Growth,” finds…
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After a Decade of Hardship, State Spending Still Up
As Virginians ponder the amendments to Virginia’s two-year budget proposed this morning by Governor Bob McDonnell, it is worth remembering the extent to which state government spending has increased over the past 10 years despite three years of hardship occasioned by the 2008 recession. Over the last decade, Virginia’s operating budget increased by $15.4 billion…
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Is 2013 the Year of Bill Bolling?
By Peter Galuszka It’s not even 2013 year and the maneuvering in the gubernatorial race is mystifying, showing disarray in both political parties. Mild-mannered, former GOP loyalist Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is showing new backbone that can only be taken to be mean he may well run as an independent now that he has abandoned…
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Rise of the Machines?
By Peter Galuszka Economic regions go through natural iterations of what makes money and creates jobs. But that “what” can be transitional if not ephemeral. Consider industries for Dutch tulips or New England ice. Ditto Virginia. It’s been through tobacco, apples, battleships, retailing, furniture, textiles and moonshine. A couple of decades ago, with proponents of…
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Is It Time to Get Rid of the MWAA?
By Peter Galuszka Many years ago, I started my first journalism job at a daily newspaper in a small town in North Carolina. It was a pleasant, sleepy place where the dominant clans were the Alligoods and the Woolards. If they married, they were known as “Wooligoods.” When you looked at the lists of employees…
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Another Fiscal Pothole
In its 2012 session the General Assembly contended with the looming liabilities of the state employee pension plan. In the 2013 session, it may have to confront the looming liabilities of $900 million-a-year state employee health care program. Unless immediate steps are taken, reports Jeff Schapiro with the Times-Dispatch, the State Employees Health Insurance Fund…
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Has Road Privatization Gone Frankenstein?
By Peter Galuszka Since 1995, Virginia’s politicians have had a ready tool that they love to use as a ruse to build roads without raising taxes: the Public Privatization Transportation Act. Once considered a nation-beater and major step in the craze of putting private management methods and money in pubic transport projects, the PPTA was…
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Uh, Oh, CTB Representatives Acting Feisty
by James A. Bacon It was a routine matter that came before the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) this morning: The Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) was asking the CTB to approve allocations from the state’s industrial rail access fund. The sums of money were small and the projects were uncontroversial — $450,000 to…
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Laughing in the Face of the Fiscal Cliff
Jim Bacon chats with Scott Lee about the “fiscal cliff” on Bearingdrift’s Score Radio Network. Cheer up, things could always be worse. Iran could get nuclear weapons. Space aliens could invade California. Madonna could announce another world tour. But that’s about it. I can’t think of anything else that would exceed the fiscal cliff for…