Economy

Leaving Home Ten years ago, my family and I loaded up a small U-Haul truck and drove it to the DC suburbs. As I started graduate school at George Mason University, 21-year-old me was so excited for this new adventure.   As I caught a final glimpse of… Read More

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises, in one conversation an interlocuter questions another on how he went bankrupt, resulting in the now well-known response: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” The witty reply is one that can be applied to many situations: falling asleep, financial cri… Read More

Summer sucked.   The weather wasn’t great, but it’s not the traditional summer complaints of heat and sunburn that I’m referring to. My summer sucked because my fiancé was confined to a mere 8×10 foot room for over 350 hours this summer.   Two simple words can explain this desolate… Read More

The Opioid Crisis in West Virginia By now everyone has heard the horrible news on the opioid crisis. Thousands of Mountaineers are addicted, billions of dollars have been wasted, and deaths are stacking up every day. What you may not have heard of is the treatment policies that are… Read More

West Virginia’s Path: A Different Future or the Eternal Now?  Sweaty, breathing heavily on a stationary bike at 5:30am, I was watching the most recent season of Netflix’s popular show, Castlevania, when a main character, Isaac, said something that floored me:   “They convince us… Read More

West Virginia Needs More Addiction Treatment Services The principle of supply and demand has been with us since Adam Smith. This principle is at the core of West Virginia’s decades long drug problem. … Read More

Lemonade Stands & CON Law Did you start a lemonade stand as a child? I certainly did. My mom had a fantastic lemonade recipe – perfectly tart and sweet. We would make it in the kitchen during the summers. My little brother and I would set up a stand at… Read More

Big Wins In K-12 Public Policy, But What’s Next? There is little doubt that West Virginia’s public policy problems are legion. They have built up over the last several decades. First and foremost among said problems was a lack of options in the state’s calcified K-12 education system. With… Read More

West Virginia Isn’t Healthy Across the nation, West Virginia is known for its poor health. We face an opioid epidemic, have the highest obesity rate in the country, and rank 1st in coronary heart disease. To make things worse, we lack access to basic health care with more than… Read More

Addiction Recovery in West Virginia Addiction stinks: it drains individuals, families, and entire communities. We have lost thousands to this plague, but there has been hope in those who have overcome it. If Mountaineers are ever to overcome this horror, the focus should be on getting more people in… Read More