Tag: James A. Bacon
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Justice for Marvin Waters?
Who, you might wonder, is the victim Marvin Waters? From his family’s GoFundMe page: “On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, our beloved Marvin Waters was taken from us in the most heartbreaking and violent way. “He was stabbed and killed while waiting at a bus stop near Richmond Highway and North Kings Highway in Groveton, Fairfax County, Virginia.…
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The Fiscal Flywheel Effect
In my Feb. 13 podcast, former Finance Secretary Steve Cummings explained the positive feedback loop between strong state finances and economic development. His observations about the fiscal flywheel effect are worth highlighting here. –JAB Cummings: “The underlying premise here is growth. When you have a declining revenue stream, when you have declining population, you’re gonna…
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Buttressing Virginia’s AAA Finances
Running budget surpluses, cutting taxes, and maxing out the rainy day fund Excerpt from the Feb. 13 Oinkonomics podcast interview of former Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings about Governor Glenn Youngkin’s fiscal legacy: “We were able to generate $10 billion in cumulative surpluses. Some of that was last year, where a conservative position was taken…
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Governor Youngkin’s Fiscal Legacy
Jim Bacon chats with former Finance Secretary Cummings about former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s budgetary achievements, Virginia’s economic development track record, and how well positioned the commonwealth is to survive a federal financial meltdown. Lightly edited transcript Jim Bacon: Hello, everyone. I’m Jim Bacon, and this is the Oinkonomics podcast. Whatever your feelings about Glenn…
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Affordability Watch: Hospitality Taxes
The state of Virginia and its 133 localities have so many taxes that it’s hard to keep track of them all. The Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association (VRTLA) has documented the taxes affecting the hospitality sector — meals taxes, transit occupancy taxes, add-on sales taxes, and bed taxes — in a new report, “2025…
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Keeping up With Mamdani, Part II
Publicly owned housing is such a roaring success that Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, wants to create more of it.
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Big Brother Update
Surveillance of some… Senate Bill 84: “Authorizes state and local law-enforcement agencies to place and operate pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk speed corridors for purposes of recording pedestrian cross and stop sign violations.” But not of others… Senate Bill 83: “Requires the…
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Mr. Beardsley Goes to Richmond
Newly appointed UVA President Scott Beardsley (appearing at the 1:06 point in the video) looks old, tired, and drained in his testimony before the General Assembly. Based on this performance, the odds of him standing up to lawmakers’ demands appear to be roughly zero. Interesting question: Will legislators decide to keep him, thinking that he…
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Welcome Todd Truitt
I’m pleased to announce that Todd Truitt will join the Bacon’s Rebellion team as a regular contributor. His editorial concentration will be K-12 education policy in the commonwealth. Todd is a parent of two Arlington Public Schools (APS) students in Arlington County and an education advocate during his free time. He has been active on…
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Uh, Oh, Virginia a Net Out-Migration State in 2025
Virginia dropped from a net in-migration state in 2024 to a net out-migration state in 2025, according to the latest U-Haul Growth Index report. The Old Dominion dropped from a 17th rank in net in-migration to 36th. The net loss was narrow though, only 0.2 percentage points. I’d love to see a regional breakdown —…
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AI and the New Cultural Revolution
The United States is undergoing a cultural revolution. Artificial Intelligence is giving Middle America the tools to circumvent the entertainment monopoly of the bicoastal elites. You can find content on YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, and Facebook every bit as fun and/or entrancing as anything you can see on Netflix, Apple, or network TV. Just as new…
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Officer-Involved Shootings on the Rise in 2024
The number of officer-involved shootings in Virginia increased to 45 in 2024, nearly double the rate recorded in 2019, according to the Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia 2024 report. The number of fatal shootings, 31, was two-and-a-half times higher than five years previously. The Crime in Virginia report classifies every one of the shootings…
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About Those Hate Crime Numbers…
The officially reported tally of hate crimes against Jews spiked to 84 in 2024, while the number against Blacks increased slightly from an already high level to 136, according to data from the Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia 2024 report. As the report itself notes, however, these numbers should be viewed with caution. “Because…
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Slight Decline in Law Enforcement Staffing in 2024
The number of law enforcement employees declined slightly (1.2 percent) in 2024 compared to the year before, according to Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia data. The number of both civilians and officers was almost identical to that in 2022 when homicides were roughly 25 percent higher. If the number of law-enforcement personnel is a…
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3,257 Police Officers Assaulted in 2024
Even as homicides and violent crimes declined in 2024, according to the Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia 2024 report, the number of assaults on Virginia police officers continued at roughly the same rate as in the previous two years. The 727 injuries to officers did represent a 10-percent decline from 2023, however. One police…