The government actions taken to flatten the coronavirus pandemic will most effect the smallest of businesses, as well as part-time and lower income workers such as restaurant wait staff, and ‘gig’ economy workers without benefits. Here’s how you can help.
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What did this year’s General Assembly cost you in taxes? Here are at least 16 bills approved by the 2020 General Assembly which create or raise taxes on Virginians or authorize a local government to do so. No one told Virginians at the start of session that major tax increases...
Terry McAuliffe is a terrific politician. If you’ve met the former Virginia governor you know what I mean. He’s smooth. He oozes charm.Like many skilled politicians, underneath that affable exterior lurks a ruthless operator with an elephantine memory. Just ask LaBravia Jenkins, the well-respected commonwealth’s attorney for the City of...
There are far more liberal/Democratic journalists than conservative/Republican journalists, but political bias has little influence over how they report the news, finds a new study on media bias, “There is No Liberal Media Bias in the News Political Journalists Choose to Cover.” The study, one of whose three co-authors, John...
One intrusive employment law change opposed by business groups was finally watered down in the late stages of the 2020 Virginia General Assembly, but others are passing and will be actively enforced by a phalanx of new state investigators and lawyers. The final state budget, still in negotiation, could add...
Largely with party-line, urban-vs-rural votes, Virginia’s legislature is poised to enact a Clean Economy Act that would eliminate coal-based electricity generation, prevent construction of new gas-fired power plants – and replace reliable, affordable fossil energy with wind, solar and battery-backup power. The bill offers important cautionary lessons for voters, workers...
Predicting economic growth and the outcome of elections have something in common: Both rely on assumptions. We economists make assumptions about when and by how much the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates or whether the coronavirus will lead to a slowdown in exports and world trade. Our assumptions impact...
Virginia faces billions in expenses for road, bridge and school repair. Why are so many politicians willing to raise the cost of that construction so less construction can be done?
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Responding to a perceived climate emergency, the new Democratic majority in the Virginia General Assembly is seeking to transform the Commonwealth into a wind and solar energy Wonderland. It is passing legislation to mandate construction of solar and wind, mandate closure of disfavored power sources, and to prevent the State...
Joseph Ocol is the kind of teacher most parents would fight to have teach their daughter. His Englewood, Chicago girls’ chess team won the national championship in 2016 against 60 other schools, an achievement noted in the Congressional Record, by news media and by the mayor and city council. And...
