The common refrain among supporters of the Democratic Party’s open borders policy is that immigration helps the economy. A very recent example of this was published in MSNBC Daily last month, where the author, David Bier of the Cato Institute, claims that “The Congressional Budget Office finds that the surge will boost the economy by $7 trillion and reduce the federal debt by nearly $1 trillion by 2034.” That’s actually an unimpressive statistic since the cumulative GDP of the United States over the next decade will easily exceed $300 trillion, but Bier is probably not wrong in his assertion that immigration increases GDP.
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Virginia Revitalization Commission to Pilot Workforce Housing Development
The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission recently approved a pilot workforce housing program to make the region more attractive to new businesses and job seekers.
The commission was founded to foster economic growth and opportunity in 34 counties and six independent cities comprising Southwest and Southern Virginia – a region where tobacco farming was once integral to the economy. It’s funded entirely by proceeds from a major 1990s tobacco lawsuit settlement.
Read MoreCalifornia Considers Rules That Could Push Gas Prices up an Additional $1.11/Gallon by 2026
California gas prices could rise by at least $1.11 per gallon by 2026 if the California Air Resources Board adopts amendments to its low carbon fuel standard program, CARB says. The LCFS amendments proposed at the end of 2023 would phase-out credits for turning manure into renewable natural gas, ending that business, and add jet fuel to LCFS purview, increasing flying costs for every flight that starts or ends in California even if the fuel was purchased elsewhere. Because so much of America’s imports come in through California, the LCFS amendments would raise the costs of goods for every American.
LCFS uses a system of credits and deficits to reward or punish producers that make fuel better or worse than the rising “clean” standard.” Current LCFS guidelines call for a 20% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 compared to 2010, while the proposed amendments call for a 90% reduction by 2045, including significant step-downs starting in 2025 that would result in major fuel cost increases starting that year.
Read MoreMounting Evidence Is Pointing to a Nightmare Scenario for the U.S. Economy
U.S. annual economic growth measured just 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, following a report of persistently high inflation in March of 3.5 percent year-over-year. The combination of both low growth and high inflation, in conjunction with continuously high amounts of government spending and debt, has led to signs of stagflation in the U.S. economy, which wreaked havoc on U.S. consumers throughout the 1970’s, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.
Read MoreYoungkin Casts Doubt on Building Small Nuclear Reactor in Southwest Virginia
After months of research and investigation into what it would look like to build a small modular nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin revealed the region may not be selected for Virginia’s first SMR after all.
“There may be other places around Virginia that may be better suited for the first one,” Youngkin said. “We’re looking at places across the commonwealth. I do firmly believe that Virginia will be the first state to have a small modular reactor in a commercial fashion.”
Read MoreBiden Border Policy Critics Lament ‘Migrant Crime Wave’
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark E. Green blasted President Joe Biden for the wave of illegal immigrants entering the U.S., saying a “migrant crime wave” is sweeping the country.
Read MoreRunaway Inflation ‘Unlikely’ to be Reeled in Under Biden Administration, Experts Say
by Will Kessler As long as President Joe Biden continues his high government spending policies, inflation is not likely to return to previously normal levels without seeing economic repercussions, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The last time the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a…
Read MoreAs His First Cabinet Pick, Youngkin Names School Data Guru Aimee Guidera to Be Secretary of Education
Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin announced that Aimee Rogstad Guidera will serve as Secretary of Education. During the No Child Left Behind era, Guidera founded the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) which focuses on better data gathering to help improve school quality.
In his Monday press release, Youngkin said, “Aimee will be a critical partner in restoring expectations of excellence; overseeing a record education budget to invest in teachers, facilities and special education; rolling out innovation lab and charter schools; and standing for a curriculum that prepares Virginia’s children for a dynamic future and removes politics from the classroom.”
Read MoreAt Conference, Northam Says Virginia Is Ideal for Offshore Wind Industry
RICHMOND, Virginia — Governor Ralph Northam and Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue announced that the Port of Virginia will lease 72 acres of the deep-water Portsmouth Marine Terminal for staging and pre-assembly of Dominion’s offshore wind project.
“This announcement is yet another milestone toward making Virginia the national leader in offshore wind power,” Northam said. “The Commonwealth and Dominion Energy are standing together to promote clean energy, reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, and build a new American industry on the East Coast of the United States.”
Read MoreRural Oregon Counties Want to Secede From State to Join ‘Greater Idaho’
Conservative Oregonians are trying to leave the increasingly left-leaning state all together to preserve their values – but not by moving elsewhere. A group called Move Oregon’s Border is leading an initiative to have Oregon’s rural counties secede from the rest of the state and join Idaho, Fox News reports.
Mike McCarter, 72, a lifelong Oregonian, retired plant nursery worker and firearms instructor, has been leading the separatist movement for almost two years. He said he and many others are eager to “get out from underneath the chokehold of Northwestern Oregon.”
Read MoreCommentary: Cato Forgets to Tell People This About the Jones Act
Good people still make bad mistakes.
One example is the Cato Institute’s attacks upon the Jones Act. The libertarian think tank should be appreciated for some other efforts, but not for its strident campaign to let foreign interests take over water transportation within the United States.
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