In recent years, when I give talks on the state of the economy I often start out with two charts from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis that clearly show the extent to which the 2007 recession has been different. The first depicts cumulative change in GDP over the four...
With all the talk about the perils of the “fiscal cliff” here in the Washington, DC area, I am slowly coming to the conclusion that maybe this thing called “sequestration,” that everyone fears, may not be so bad after all. I know many of my friendswill think I have gone...
(This column ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch on December 12, 2012) As Congress struggles to avoid the so-called “economic cliff,” it is imperative that our elected leaders don’t panic and do something really destructive to our ability to grow the economy and maintain the retirement promises to our elderly. Public policy...
(This article is reprinted from Surface Transportation Innovations, a monthly newsletter published by the Reason Foundation).This autumn marks the debut of three investor-financed toll projects, with the opening to traffic of the Jordan Bridge in Virginia, the I-495 express lanes on the I-495 Beltway in northern Virginia, and the...
(This article first ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch on November 2, 2012). I recently stopped at a coffee shop in a rural county in Virginia. I knew the county was benefiting from the expansion of a firm that created a couple hundred high-paying jobs. I asked a customer whether...
(Part I of this article ran in the last issue of the Jefferson Policy Journal, November 17, 2012 click here). Privatization would be one way to describe APM Terminal’s proposal to unify Virginia’s ports, but that misses the larger point, says Crowley. It’s about moving to a different business model....
(Gary Baise is a national respected environmental attorney who lives here in Virginia and writes on issues that can impact on Virginia’s economy.) The election is over, and EPA is going to feast on many industries including farm tillage and livestock operations. A U.S. Senate report from the minority staff...
(As Congress struggles to avoid the “fiscal cliff” created by years of deficit spending and a huge economic blow to Virginia’s defense-related industries, this column provides an important perspective to this debate. It is important that whatever actions are taken that we all understand the facts). In a commentary entitled...
Unfunded federal mandates are a growing problem for states and an even larger problem for local governments. The Jefferson Institute and the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic at George Mason University prepared a legal “Nutshell” on how to challenge these unfunded mandates. The bottom line of this report is that...
There are a few immutable functions of government—and public safety is paramount amongst them. We expect our state and local governments to use our tax dollars to keep the public peace, to punish those who do wrong, and ensure streets remain safe for prosperous economic development. But as with all...
