No Grumbling; It’s Christmas!

This week’s Governmental Grumble is almost not a grumble. In Virginia the legislature just reduced the size of bribes our elected officials can take, both tangible and intangible, to a maximum of $100.00. That is good news.  Better news would be nothing at all but I guess there has to be a little freeby area so when the high school meets with their legislator the kids can give him a ball cap or a coffee mug or something like that.

Along a similar line, the value for felony larceny is $200.00 as it has been for over 30 years. Surely the value between grand larceny and a gift to a legislator should be greater than twice the value. When the grand larceny figure was determined many Virginians were living on less than $100 per week. Today someone can be charged with grand larceny for stealing less than a day’s wages. A pair of tennis shoes, a cell phone, and a jacket can all be grand larceny.

Maybe now is a good time to take inflation into account and adjust that also.