Tag: Boomergeddon
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Meanwhile, Virginia’s Debt Service Has Doubled
Debt service on bond issues, mainly for higher education and transportation, has been a major driver of state spending over the past 10 years. The repayment of interest and debt has increased in absolute numbers and as a percentage of total blended revenues — from $385 million (or 2.57% of revenues) in FY 2005 to $836…
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A World of Failed States, Militias and Refugees
The flood of refugees from war-torn Africa and the Middle East into Europe got me to thinking about something I wrote five years ago in “Boomergeddon,” back when the world still seemed relatively sane. I recognized that fiscal constraints would prevent the United States from maintaining its role as the world’s policeman. Despite all the…
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Another Idol Has Fallen: Virginia's Fiscal Condition Not So Great
by James A. Bacon Once upon a time, Virginia was widely regarded as the Best State to Do Business. No longer. That reality is slowly making an impression in government and economic development circles, and I sense a growing awareness that Virginia can’t continue doing things the same way it always has. Virginia also has…
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Another Idol Has Fallen: Virginia’s Fiscal Condition Not So Great
by James A. Bacon Once upon a time, Virginia was widely regarded as the Best State to Do Business. No longer. That reality is slowly making an impression in government and economic development circles, and I sense a growing awareness that Virginia can’t continue doing things the same way it always has. Virginia also has…
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Federal Bailouts and the Buildup of Risk
by James A. Bacon The federal government plays a much bigger role in shaping the United States economy than is evident in its taxing and spending policies. Uncle Sam funnels credit to favored constituencies through subsidized credit programs like TIFIA transportation loans and the Import-Export bank as well as by protecting lenders from losses due…
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Turning 62: Take the Social Security and Run?
by James A. Bacon I turn 62 years old today, and one of the few perks of advancing age is the prospect of collecting Social Security. I, like thousands of other Baby Boomers who turn 62 every day, face the decision whether to start pocketing Social Security now, wait until full retirement at 66 or…
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Boomergeddon Watch: Debt Visible and Invisible
by James A. Bacon Now that the United States has driven down its annual budget deficit to less than $500 billion a year, there is a widespread temptation to think that we’re out of the fiscal woods. By some fiscal measures, actually, we are performing better than a lot of other countries. I found this…
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Yes, Boomergeddon Still on Track
by James A. Bacon President Barack Obama seemed pretty darned impressed with his economic and fiscal stewardship of the United States during his State of the Union speech last night. “We’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation…
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At Last, a Chance to Address Fundamental Issues
by James A. Bacon With yesterday’s elections, the Republican Party has taken control of the United States Senate and padded its lead in the House of Representatives, assuring a markedly different political dynamic in the two years ahead. The big question on everybody’s minds is, “Can Republicans govern?” Or will we see two more years…
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Chart of the Day: Virginia’s Aging Population
This graph comparing Virginia’s age between 1980 and 2013 comes from Luke Juday’s latest post over on the Stat Chat blog, published by the demographics shop the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. I urge you to check out the opening chart in his post to see an animation of the changes year by year. It’s fascinating to…
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How the Feds Are Detroitifying the Country
by James A. Bacon Richard Ravitch worries that more “Detroits” are in America’s fiscal future. Co-author with former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volker of the “Report of the State Budget Crisis Task Force,” Ravitch argues in the Wall Street Journal today that state and local governments have major fiscal problems, that those problems are structural in…
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Trickle-Down Economics Revealed
by James A. Bacon A generation ago, liberals mocked the so-called “trickle-down economics” of the Reagan administration, the idea that creating wealth for the rich would trickle down to the less affluent by way of expanded economic activity. While Reagan himself never used that term, his economic philosophy of tax cuts, tax-code reform and restrained…
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Someone Has to Worry about Tomorrow
Mercedies Harris, speaking to the Times-Dispatch, came as close as anyone to summing up what Virginia’s Medicaid debate is all about: “The system is crazy. They have got to stop worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow and deal with the people who need help today.” The 53-year-old veteran and Waynesboro resident suffers from…
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Oops, Long-Term Health Spending Crisis Not Averted After All
There has been much prattling of late that the cost increases for health care are slowing, that the long-term cost curve for Medicare and in the United States is bending downward and that Obamacare may even deserve some of the credit. Liberals everywhere are hopeful that health care expenditures somehow, miraculously, will not drive the…
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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…