The U.S. markets may be in one of the worst financial crisis since the World War era, but the current situation is nothing like the Great Depression, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

“We will not experience anything remotely like that,” Bernanke told a sold-out audience at a World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond luncheon at the University of Richmond.

During the 1930s the Fed “took a passive approach,” Bernanke said. “We now know the lessons of that, which is to not allow the financial system to collapse.”

The Federal Reserve certainly has taken a different approach in the current turmoil, cutting the federal funds rate faster than at any time in the last two decades. The Federal Reserve dropped the federal loan rate between banks to 2.25 percent, down from 5.25 percent in September.

And the Fed could receive unprecedented power under a plan the Bush administration proposed last week.

The Fed would oversee the entire makeup of the U.S. financial system, including supervising commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies and hedge funds.

On Thursday, Bernanke addressed more immediate solutions than the ones proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Bernanke said policymakers and regulators must begin working now to prevent another financial crisis. “We do not have the luxury of waiting for markets to stabilize,” he said.

Bernanke suggested that federal and state regulators should create stricter regulations on mortgage lenders and that states should adhere to a uniform licensing program.

He also suggested that increasing transparency, improving risk management, and better coordination of regulators is necessary to stabilize markets.

Prince William County supervisors have shown just how serious they are about combating illegal immigration.

Facing a $51 million shortfall in its budget, supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to spend almost $800,000 from the county’s reserve fund to staff and equip a six-member police team the county formed to apprehend and process illegal immigrants. That leaves them with $3,000 in the fund, which typically is allotted in the budget to make up for shortfalls or match grants.

The Washington Post covered the meeting, reporting that the use of the reserve fund to start a new program is unusual for the county.

Illegal immigration has become a hot-button issue in Virginia in the past year, where localities are looking for ways to restrict county services to illegal immigrants and state legislators have considered more than 100 bills on the issue.

Prince William has been on top of the issue, creating a $14 million, five-year plan for a police task force to check the immigration status of residents suspected of breaking the law. The county also restricts the county services it legally can from illegal residents.

Virginians aren’t used to this much attention.

We tend to be ignored in the presidential elections.

In the general election, we’ve been seen as reliably red. In the presidential primaries, Virginians usually vote long after the nominee has been decided.

That’s all changed this year.

With no clear Democratic front-runner after Super Tuesday, Virginia has grasped the attention of campaigns.

Democratic nominees Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both planning to speak at the state party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday evening.

It also means candidates — both Democratic and Republican — are finally spending money in Virginia to put ads on TV.

Virginia can bask in this attention for only five more days. We’ll never be an Iowa or New Hampshire.

But fear not. With recent Democratic gubernatorial and senatorial wins, the parties may see a need to campaign here throughout the general election.

Maybe we won’t feel so ignored anymore.

Two days before a scheduled news conference, business folk in Roanoke are already talking about a development for one of the area’s oldest and largest employers.  On Wednesday TMEIC GE Drive Automation Systems will announce details about a move from Salem to the former home of Atlantic Mutual Cos. in Roanoke County.

A move a few miles down the road may not sound like a big deal. Yet, it’s good news for Southwest Virginia. A major employer is staying in the area, but plans to move into larger space so it can increase its work force of about 300. TMEIC, a joint venture between Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and GE, makes software that runs motors. Its industrial drive systems are used by a number of industries, including mining, marine, and utilities. 
Stay tuned Wednesday for more details.

The 85-year-old National Theater in Richmond will reopen as a concert hall next month after being closed for 25 years. But one of its owners says restoration of the theater would not have happened if the state didn’t offer historic rehabilitation tax credits. “Without tax credits, it still would be vacant and cold,” said A. William Reid of RIC Capital Ventures.
The building was still a bit chilly last night when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and APVA Virginia Preservation held a reception celebrating the results of 10 years of tax credits. The event drew more than 400 people including Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, Speaker of the House William J. Howell and House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong.
Also on hand was Michael Pratt, director of the VCU Center for Public Policy, which conducted a study of the effects of state tax credits. He offered a few highlights from the survey.
• 93 percent of respondents said the state tax credits were essential to their decision to rehab historic property.
• 65.5 percent said they would not have undertaken their projects without the tax credits.
• Since the tax credits went into effect in 1997, they have resulted in an economic impact of $1.6 billion in the past 10 years, creating 10,769 jobs and generating $46 million in state tax revenue.
In the case of the National Theater, tax incentives encouraged Reid’s group to buy the building for $1.6 million in 2006 from the Historic Richmond Foundation and spend $15 million restoring it to its original appearance.
The theater opened in 1923 as a venue for vaudeville acts and later served as a music hall and movie theater. It closed in 1983 and was scheduled to be demolished when the Historic Richmond Foundation bought it in 1984.
“Orson Wells appeared on this stage,” Reid said. “In a few months, Willie Nelson will do the same.”