Do voters take a long enough perspective?" It seems that 100 percent of our collective attention these days is surrounding a current event that our non-expiring term politicians have selected to label as the fiscal cliff. It continues to amaze me how we allow others to label the issues of the day, which almost completely miss the pivotal points. Is the question really about spending or tax rates? Does anyone remember our prior presidents telling us we are not the world’s policemen yet we find our federal agencies having offices all over the world and our troops stationed all over the world? …

Below is a discussion article on school boundaries and school management that didn't seem to be covered very thoroughly by local media. Hopefully this allows for a genuine conversation about what can be done to maximize the quality of education and the fair distribution of tax-supported resources to accomplish that goal. Currently there are two new elementary schools being constructed to support the growth in LCPS demand in the Ashburn area that necessitate discussion. Elementary schools are inherently local by design, definition, school policy and school practice so these are not fungible …

This article is not intended to bash any party or candidate, but given the upcoming election, one should know how these discussed policies might affect Loudoun and its ability to finance its growth. Last week, the national debt passed the $16.2 Trillion level. According to Treasurydirect.gov the interest paid on U.S. debt YTD October 2012 is about $360 Billion. According to PIMCO, the Federal Reserve is currently lowering real interest rates by almost an entire percent through Operation Twist where the Fed buys mortgage securities. This means that without the Fed's action the current …

As my wife Susan and I find ourselves as empty nesters with two boys in college, we took a trip recently to the northwest. No – I'm not going to bore you with travel trivia, but rather point out a huge difference noticed between our community here in Loudoun and what we saw from Portland to Vancouver via Seattle and Victoria. The people were exceptionally friendly, food was abundant, roads and landscaping were well kept and the homeless were everywhere. Yes – our tour guide commented that there were only 7,000 homeless on the streets of Seattle. There were homeless encampments in Portland and…

Now that the opposing presidential tickets are established, let's take a minute and try to prognosticate how either group prevailing may affect our savings. This article is intended to trigger thought, not convince anyone to act or emphasize one party over another. Any conclusion also depends on the type of bonds or stocks one holds. Municipals rooted in state revenues from bridges and tunnels are much less risky than a local town-built overpass, for example. If the concept that it is actually good for the economy for the government to spend more than $1 trillion per year over revenue levels…

Last year, while I was on the Loudoun County School Board, we were advised that the State Department of Education was substantially changing the way teacher performance is evaluated—one of the biggest changes being the welcoming of parental input as a relevant part of the evaluation. As a parent, I was excited that finally someone in this highly protected hierarchy realized parents are the consumers of the service provided by school system on behalf of their children. When I reviewed the upcoming June 12, 2012, school board agenda I was aghast that LCPS was not just ignoring state education …

It’s hard to imagine there could be a more impactful living document than what usdebtclock.org provides. It puts much of the current political discussion in perspective. This debacle of financial mismanagement has a proportion that can only yield draconian effects on all of us. In addition to sharing this information, I think it’s important to also ask some questions that are not part of the current conversation. As a population that prides itself on teaching our children 21st century tools, we ought to practice some ourselves. Take a look at the website and let’s look at what these details …

Here we go again - its budget crunch time. The state likes income taxes received from Northern Virginia but reality is the money doesn't come back fairly to support our roads or our schools. Until this system of "taking" is broken Northern Virginia has a tough choice, which it never seems to make. Stop approving all increases in residential intensity until we are treated fairly by the state! With that said let's look at one element of the current budget not normally covered by local media. I'm not making this an agenda or political statement but more of a common sense statement. There is a …

I've been involved with the stock market since watching my father manually chart his stocks while I was in grammar school. Yes, I said grammar school because that is what they were called, and went from K through 8th grade. I still wonder why Newton-Lee and MS-6 can't become one school with classes from K through 8th grade, but that is for another article. My dad was a chartist. He watched for patterns of volume and trending to decide if a stock was headed for better levels or not. When I completed my MBA in finance I was proud of all the financial parameters I could show him I learned, but …

Does Afganistan economics affect us? Just as the movie Six Degrees of Separation exhibited, one could argue all things are connected and therefore every person in every country worldwide is part of the same of economic framework. Does the boldness of wars like Afghanistan act as a tool of growth, benefitting very few while punishing many. Couldn't these resources be put to better use? Yes, I hear talking heads on various "news channels" where journalists predictably fail to challenge well-tuned war promoters who label concepts with well-designed pronouns and obtuse nouns. Are we trained to …

When does school discipline policy discretion become an overreaching abuse? During my eight years on the Loudoun County School Board I had always wondered why fundamental contradictions in law versus school practice never seem to get resolved. I don't remember ever hearing a candidate for office run on the platform of expelling children from school when no emergency was occurring, no imminent harm was caused and, in some cases, no intent on the part of the student to violate any rule whatsoever. Do you check the contents of your car trunk before allowing your child to drive your car to school…

As we surround ourselves with comfort foods and good cheer in anticipation of end of year parties it also could be a good time for prognostications. I hope the following does not occur, but if it does, Loudoun may have no other choice but to immediately stop its residential growth and finally resolve to bring in high quality job-creating commercial entities instead. Here is one scenario: Loudoun commits to Metro thereby encumbering a few hundred million of capital that would have been otherwise available to work down the almost $1 billion in backlogged LCPS projects. The President of the …

Welcome to Bobby O's Corner! Local elections are now over so please openly support every newly elected official so they know we're watching. As I expect to be a resident of Loudoun for the long term I look forward to supporting every official no matter what party, if any, they came from. I forgive everybody from this election cycle except those who stole my signs (all of which were properly permitted and legally placed). I'm considering a reward for anyone who can turn in these vigilantes. Politics seems to make small people even smaller. Now for some finance issues we may want to keep track …