A lot has been made about the hollowing out of America, also called “job polarization” by economists. It happened during the recession when the employment in mid-wage occupations declined by a larger number than lower-wage or higher-wage occupations dropped. Since the recovery began, job growth has been lagging in mid-wage...
The latest Reason-Rupe Public Opinion Survey asked six questions about transportation policy. The most newsworthy results came from the question about Interstate modernization. The question read as follows: “To pay for repairing and expanding Interstate highways, would you rather raise the gas tax or pay tolls when you drive on...
During the week of August 18, 2014, I addressed the Iowa Drainage District Association regarding EPA’s proposed definition of “Waters of the United States.” The meeting in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, allowed farmland owners to learn about EPA’s proposal. I found the attendees had done their homework on the EPA proposed...
So, Virginia faces a $2.4 billion projected budget shortfall, which Governor Terry McAuliffe blames largely on defense funding cuts mandated by sequestration. Surprise, surprise. We’ve seen this train wreck coming for years. Some have seen it more clearly and shouted about it more loudly than others. Now it’s here —...
So, Virginia faces a $2.4 billion projected budget shortfall, which Governor Terry McAuliffe blames largely on defense funding cuts mandated by sequestration. Surprise, surprise. We’ve seen this train wreck coming for years. Some have seen it more clearly and shouted about it more loudly than others. Now it’s here —...
Between 1989 and 2010, Congress rejected nearly 700 cap-tax-and-trade and similar bills that their proponents claimed would control Earth’s perpetually fickle climate and weather. So even as real world crises erupt, President Obama is using executive fiats and regulations to impose his anti-hydrocarbon agenda, slash America’s fossil fuel use, bankrupt...
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke to the Agricultural Business Council on July 10 in Kansas City. One news report claims she said to forget about the myths and misinformation about EPA’s proposed interpretative rule for the Clean Water Act. I suggest you read Ms. McCarthy’s remarks. It is sad to...
(Editor’s note: If high speed rail can work in Florida without government subsidy, maybe we can do the same here in Virginia under the right circumstances.) As regular readers of this newsletter will recall, I have been generally supportive of the effort by a division of the company that owns...
In an op-ed about the Obama administration’s pending regulation of greenhouse gases from coal-fired electricity plants, Paul Krugman recently declared in his New York Times column that: The international community will join together to curtail greenhouse gases if only the U.S. would do so. The regulatory costs of “saving the...
Guaranteeing the future of American air superiority is a task that extends well beyond the five walls of the Pentagon. In fact, we in Virginia have an important part to play. This is certainly the case with the futuristic and important new F-35 Lighting II stealth fighter currently under development....
