Framing Net Neutrality Standards We Can Agree Upon
By now, you’ve probably heard about net neutrality, the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should not favor some online traffic and data over others. It shouldn’t really be a controversial matter because virtually everyone agrees on the basics, and it is fundamentally just common sense—there should be a level playing field online. So, if […]
Internet Privacy – Careful How we Ask for It
In another life, I founded and built a direct marketing company. We contacted folks using names acquired from “list companies” that offered to rent to us the names of those people with similar backgrounds. These lists were developed by companies and organizations that allowed their customer names to be used by us for our clients. […]
Save Virginia’s Collateral Source Rule
You’re driving south on Interstate 95 when you are suddenly rear-ended by a drunk driver. Your hospital bills will be high, your new car is totaled and it will be many months before you can return to work. But when you sue the drunk driver for damages, he says he owes you nothing because you […]
Lousy Economic Growth Results from Government Actions
America’s abysmal 0.7% economic growth during the fourth quarter of 2015 meant the annual growth rate was an anemic 2.4% … and average annual growth for the six-year Obama era is only 2.2 percent. This is “dead last compared to six other recession recoveries since 1960,” Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore points out. The six […]
State Leaders Must Act to Curb Federal Regulators
The expanding power of federal regulators to dictate edicts from Washington would astonish the authors of our Constitution. Regulators who re-interpret laws passed years ago in ways never intended by Congress threaten the checks on executive branch power that have served as the foundation for the rule of law. If the Presidential appointees can […]
Government Regulations Impact Industries
Increasing government regulations tend to have varying degrees of effect on different industries. Even though their impacts on the broader economy may be modest, for certain industries, the impact can be quite severe.Susan Dudley, director of the George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, said in a report that the Obama administration’s own estimates shows that […]
Should the Uranium Mining Moratorium Be Lifted?
The debate over uranium mining in Virginia is reaching a crescendo as the Virginia General Assembly meets for its 2012 Session and those in favor and those opposed are ready to battle over this important public policy and economic development issue. While this is important , especially to those who live in Southside Virginia, the […]
Virginia Unfairly Competes with the Private Sector
I am typically not a big fan of federal government policies, but when they are more pro-business than the State of Virginia’s policies one has to ask, “Why?” I am referring to the Virginia Department of Corrections where currently there is a mandate that the state prison industries provide office furniture to all state agencies […]
America and the Internet: A case study on the productive absence of regulation
Regulation has always run a furlong or two behind technology. It seems an inescapable function of the difference between the two beasts. Even well-intended regulation thrives on rules, stasis and predictability. Technology, by contrast, thrives on unfettered innovation, rapid change and creative destruction. In retrospect, then, the most insightful regulatory policy ever adopted by the […]
The myth of killer mercury, EPA: Environmental Propaganda Activists
The EPA’s new mercury rules have no factual basis.