Many are the ways in which burgeoning student debt — $1.2 trillion and rising — cripple the economy. On the Bacons Rebellion Blog we’ve discussed how debt delays family formation, housing purchases and consumer spending. Recent research from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Board also suggests that student debt dampens new...
The new EPA regulations on power plants, if enacted, will drive up costs significantly, especially for low-income families and minorities. The National Black Chamber of Commerce just released a study showing electric rates alone would push 6 percent more African-American and Latino families into poverty. Dominion Power, in Virginia where...
In May Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced that the federal government would be accelerating its efforts to mandate that new automobiles come equipped to communicate with one another. A regulation to that effect is to be submitted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to the Office of Management &...
(Editor’s note: This history lesson on Thomas Jefferson and his views and actions concerning slavery is worth reading.) Recently, leaders of the Democratic Party of Connecticut voted unanimously to delete the name of Thomas Jefferson from their annual fundraising dinner. Jefferson was, after all, a slave owner. Democrats in other...
The Virginia Department of Education (DOE), as a consequence of budget cuts, no longer keeps tab on the turnover rate of Virginia’s teachers and other crucial demographic information needed to accurately predict trends in the teacher workforce, but evidence is mounting that Virginia is not making adequate efforts to attract...
I’ve been covering business in Virginia for nearly four decades now, and I have to say, the electric power industry may be the most complex and difficult to understand. I freely admit that I have a steep learning curve ahead of me, and it’s pretty clear that other Virginia journalists...
One day last month I was listening to “Marketplace” on NPR and heard a bizarre story. According to the reporter, the huge electronic signs in Times Square in New York are now “illegal billboards” that must be taken down. Why? Because Broadway and 7th Avenue are now defined by the...
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new Clean Power Plan (CPP) requires that states reduce their electric utility sector carbon dioxide emissions an average of 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. EPA twisted 80 words in the Clean Air Act into 1,560 pages of regulations (plus appendices) demanding that utilities return CO2...
I recently sat through two days of state candidates discussing top issues facing Virginia with several dozen business leaders interested in public policy. These discussions made it clear that our economy needs a significant boost and that our tax code needs to be made more relevant to today’s world. In...
Jefferson Journal: Tax Reform and Job Creation Go Hand In Hand
In one business survey after another, Virginia is slipping from its high rated position of a few short years ago. Our economy did not grow last year. Our growth rate was zero. And with federal military spending decreasing, our future must be based on encouraging job growth in companies not...