Just when Thomas Jefferson’s University thought it could get a respite from a spate of bad news, the Cooch comes back. Yes, irrepressible Atty. Gen. Kenneth Cuccinelli is back with a new civil investigative demand for emails and other materials of former University of Virginia professor Michael Mann, an expert on global warming. The Cooch…

Taking advantage of current regulatory “uncertainty” and ultra-low interest rates, large U.S. corporations have amassed a pile of cash worth about $1.6 trillion or about 6 percent of their total assets. Yet small businesses and individuals have a difficult time tapping into the low rates because banks refuse to lend them money. This conundrum is…

Notes for a rainy Monday: In Saturday’s WaPo the Real Estate section was 6 pages long. The story that occupied most of the first page? “Getting home on two wheels,” a feature on the importance of bicycles in marketing residential real estate in the Core of the fourth largest, and one of the most prosperous,…

In recent history, the United States has survived at least three major financial debacles: the Savings & Loan crisis around 1990, the bursting of Internet bubble around 2000, the collapse of the real estate bubble that began in 2007. What’s next? When I was writing “Boomergeddon” earlier this year, I expected the next traumatic financial…

This just in from Bloomberg BusinessWeek: “TARP’s bank bailouts are turning a profit and TARP overall may cost about $50 billion, hardly the boondoggle many pols charge.” BizWeek says that the $700 billion plus rescue package may end up costing less than one-tenth its original price tag. Bloomberg data says that of $250 billion to…

The plan to privatize ABC stores gets stranger as the days pass. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is facing criticism that his plan unfairly puts a 2.5 percent optional tax on alcohol sales in bars and restaurants and ledgers that show that the plan still won’t raise as much money annually than keeping ABC stores in…

In a core plank of the “Pledge to America” unveiled earlier this month, the GOP leadership of the House of Representatives promised to repeal Obamacare and put in place “real” health care reform. Insofar as Obamacare represents a massive transfer of wealth and gums up the health care industry with over-regulation, it does need to…

So, we finally know what the Republican congressional leadership has in mind for fixing America’s problems. “A Pledge to America,” unveiled earlier this month, sets clear-cut priorities: creating jobs, reducing the size and scope of government, repealing Obamacare, keeping America safe and restoring trust in Congress. It’s a pretty good set of priorities, and the…

Some things don’t change. Here in gun-happy Virginia, firearms continue to flow to other states where they are used in crimes. A report by Mayors Against Illegal Guns says that of 43,254 firearms recovered in the U.S. in 2009 after having been used in crimes, 2,557 were from Virginia, making the Old Dominion the third…

President Obama recently reprised his proposal for a longer school year. On Monday, Barack Obama was interviewed on NBC’s “Today” Show where he explained that a longer school year for American children would help close the gap between US school-children and kids from other countries. You can read more here. This is not the first…

The political atmosphere these days seems like a chapter out of the Elmer Gantry novel. Facing failure, the lack of personal responsibility and depravity, our ideas on economics are enjoying a fundamentalist revival. We have the Tea Party movement electing sex-abstinence advocate Christine O’Donnel, Fox News telling us how out of control the federal government…

Robert F. McDonnell has found his pots of gold. He even looks like a leprechaun. An audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation shows more than $1 billion in unspent money, allowing the Republican governor to crow about government mismanagement and toss some dirt the way of his predecessor, Timothy Kaine, who happens to be…

USA Today has done a public service by investigating what NCAA schools spend on athletic programs. Among the findings, several Virginia universities support athletic programs through mandatory fees. Six schools — Radford, James Madison, Norfolk State, Longwood and VMI were mentioned by name — charged $1,000 or more in the 2008-2009 school year. Given the…

Bereft of ties and jackets, the three, trim congressmen, coyly glancing this way and that, stride purposefully toward the camera. “These are, The Young Guns!,” says the announcer in an authoritative voice. It might have been a Saturday Night Live parody of a trailer for “The Magnificent Seven,” the classic Western movie. Instead, it is,…

Here’s a hot one for you: This January, the General Assembly will consider proposing a constitutional amendment. The so-called “Repeal Amendment” would give two-thirds of the states the power to repeal any federal law or regulation. Here’s the text: Any provision of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by the several…