It used to be that Virginia is for lovers. Now it seems that Virginia is for shooters. For the second time in nearly three years, Virginia is the scene of mass killings with firearms. In another horrific episode, Christopher Speight, a contract security guard with a permit to carry concealed weapons, is accused to slaughtering…

Virginia has always struck me as a lawyer-heavy state, perhaps because of its tendency to worship the legal profession. The late Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell seems to be revered more than any artist, scientist or other creative type. Add to that lobbyists. Indeed, Richmond seems to be quite heavy in the lobbying department and…

Fact One: Democrat health care negotiators have buckled to demands to exempt union contracts from the tax on high-end health plans until 2018, five years beyond the start date for other workers. The deal represents a giveaway to the unions of $59 billion. (See the Wall Street Journal coverage for details.) Fact Two: Only 4.1%…

One of the initiatives that Gov. Tim Kaine fought hardest for was expanded access to pre-K programs for at risk children. It was an “investment,” you see. Pre-K programs would better prepare children for Kindergarten and 1st grade. The kids would do better in elementary school, fewer would get discouraged and drop out of high…

Eliminating the state corporate income tax sounds like a crazy idea when the commonwealth is facing $4.2 billion revenue shortfall in the Fiscal 2011-2012 budget. After all, the Kaine administration expects the tax to bring in $660 million, or 4.7% of all General Fund revenues. But is it really so crazy? Only if you engage…

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell no doubt feels constrained by his campaign promises to address Virginia’s transportation needs without raising taxes, in other words, by grabbing money from whatever miscellaneous source he can find it. But with the state’s acute fiscal crunch, it won’t be easy to find much cash laying around. Sooner or later, he may…

On Jan. 18, 2001, President Bill Clinton sat in the Oval Office and gave his farewell address to the American people. The nation had enjoyed eight years of peace and prosperity, he said proudly. The economy had created 22 million new jobs. And the fiscal health of the nation had never been stronger. As the…

My posting on Bacon’s Rebellion has been sparse as of late because I am dedicating my spare time to writing a book. As the occasion arises in the future, I plan to post passages from the book or ruminations on related topics with the expectation that readers will set upon them like a pack of…

In the health care debate, there’s plenty of talk about so-called “market” principles as being especially desirable to improve quality, and contain costs. Any form of “government” is considered bad. Whatever the big insurance companies want is considered “good” because they are typically for profit firms. So, it is indeed curious to read David Leonhardt’s…

As a follow-up to my previous post about Virginia’s unfunded pension obligations, one might wonder how much long-term debt the commonwealth carries. According to Virginia’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), the state has long-term debt of $29.5 billion. Sixteen percent of that debt, or $4.7 billion, was incurred in Fiscal Year 2009.

As the General Assembly convenes next month with the pressing objective of balancing the budget, one of the things our parliamentarians should be thinking about is the commonwealth’s $3.6 billion unfunded liability for its employees’ post-retirement benefits. That figure comes from a November report published by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine…

One of my favorite economists is Yegor T. Gaidar, a former Communist who struggled hard in the 1980s and 1990s to turn Russia into a capitalist country. Gaidar, 53, died Dec. 16 of a blood clot. So many people on this blog are free market advocates. At times, they get into the nit-picky about what…

As Chamber of Commerce events go, the energy conference held in Richmond by the Virginia group on Dec. 10 seems typical enough. A slew of energy company executive boosted their endeavors and their products, noting that the state will need coal, nuclear, wind, and natural gas. For the coal officials, there was no mention of…

Sunday was an awful, cold and rainy day so I ended up on the sofa reading The New York Times by the fire with my German Shepherd who wasn’t feeling well. Imagine my surprise when I turned to the magazine and saw Old Virginny mentioned in “The 9th Annual Year in Ideas.” Among the great…

Another Sunday article worth reading is Neil Peirce’s most recent column, in which he touts the virtues of cogeneration as a technology for district heating. He writes: The setup in Copenhagen, created by a regional accord of five mayors in 1984, captures heated water from electricity production that would normally be pumped into the sea,…